u6 



THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



notice. The selection of species given on page 123 may also be of service to those 

 interested in the beauty afforded by nature's flowers. 



The genus Tulipa, which belongs to the Natural Order of Liliacece, embraces upwards 

 of sixty species, found in Europe, North Africa, West and Central Asia, and eastward to 

 Japan. To one of these species, the brilliant T. Gesneriana, introduced from the Levant 

 in 1577, we are mainly indebted for the present race of florists' tulips. The first 

 varieties of these came from Holland about three centuries ago, and in a short time the 

 tulip was extensively cultivated. 



Its after history would take up too much space. For this and for what may be 

 considered the fullest and most exhaustive information yet given on these beautiful 

 late-flowering kinds, the reader is recommended to see the series of articles on "The 

 Florists' Tulip," from the pen of Mr. James W. Bentley, which appeared in the Journal 

 of Horticulture of October 25th, 1894, et seq. The writer is indebted to these uniquely 

 valuable articles for much information. The story of the tulip-mania in Holland has 

 also been repeatedly told ; but it may be as well to mention that it is not to the Dutch 

 but to the English florists that we owe the most perfect of all our tulips. Many of these 

 were raised in the South of England, but the Lancashire and Yorkshire growers mainly 

 kept up its cultivation when others neglected the flower. 



Characteristics of Florists' Tulips. 



These splendid tulips are, by English growers, divided into three divisions, named 

 Eoses, Byblcemens, and Bizarres, which are again subdivided into Breeders and 

 Eectified. The Roses have white bases and ground colour, and the petals are coloured 

 with red : this ranging from pale pink to bright scarlet. The scarlet shades are 

 preferred. The Bijbloemeus have also white bases and grounds, and the petals are 

 coloured with a purple shade — from lilac to almost black. Blue-black and blue-purple 

 shades are the most admired. The Bizarres differ from the others by having yellow bases 

 and grounds, the colouring varying from orange-scarlet to brown and black. The very 

 dark or fiery-red coloured are the most esteemed. 



The Breeder is a tulip before it has assumed its feathering or flaming, and may be 

 called a florists' tulip in its chrysalis stage. All seedlings are " Breeders," and it is 

 only after the lapse of an uncertain period that they assume the characteristic markings 

 that invest them with value ; in their early stages they are self-coloured, with the 



