TULIP, 



2P9 



them to do it. Last year we had a proposition to fur- 

 nish about one hundred thousand bulbs for public parks ; 

 the list included more than a dozen named sorts ; we 

 presented the same to the dealers in Holland, who said 

 they could not furnish the list, and would not try, 

 because others would substitute the same colors for a 

 much less price, and would get the order ; at the same 

 time the bulbs would not give satisfaction, because there 

 would be no uniformity in the period of flowering. The 

 result was as they stated ; cheaper sorts were used, and 

 the desired effect of masses of color in contrast was lost. 



In the public parks, as well as in the flower garden, 

 the early forms have a decided advantage over the late 

 flowering sorts, as they are gone in time to have their 

 places filled with bedding plants, which last until killed 

 by frost. The late tulips would not be done flowering 

 until the season is too far advanced to put in many sorts 

 of bedding plants, with a fair prospect of success. 



The relative difference between the early and late 

 sorts of Tulips is truthfully stated by Shirley Hibbard, 

 an acknowledged authority, as follows: "The Tulips 

 to which the florists give attention now are late Tulips 

 exclusively ; they can see no merit in the early ones, and 

 from their point of view, there can be no question as to 

 the soundness of their choice. The early Tulips give us 

 none of the rare pencilings of flames and feathers ; the 

 pure white basis proper to a Tulip of high breeding, is 

 unknown amongst them; and the short Tozza form, 

 smooth and evenly expanded, like Hebe's cup, they can- 

 not show, consequently, the early Tulips have been 

 thrown out of the select catalogue, and the lovers of gay 

 flowers, who care little for fanciful markings that are 

 very costly, but care much for abundant color at a low 

 price, may be fully gratified, and, after all, may still 

 congratulate themselves that the cheap early Tulips were, 

 once upon a time, valued above rubies, and that only 

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