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REMARKS. 



TULIP — Tulipa gesnertana* 

 In no class of plants has nature so varied her delicate 

 tints as in this ; it would seem as if each change which 

 nature or art is capable of forming, was included in the 

 varying beauties of the Tulip, above 1,100 varieties of 

 which are cultivated in some of the gardens of Holland. 

 All the finer varieties, however, of this delightful ilower % 

 have been obtained, by cultivation and art, during the 

 last two centuries, through the perseverance of the 

 Dutch, French, and Flemish florists ; several kinds of 

 which possess a delightful fragrance, although persons 

 who are ignorant of this circumstance, have made the 

 want of it an objection to this splendid flower. About 

 the middle of the seventeenth century the rage for this 

 flower was so great in Holland, that from four to twenty- 

 five thousand florins were given for a single root. The 

 Tulip called Semper Augustus was sold for ten thousand 

 florins, ($ 4,000,) and the one called Viceroi for twenty- 

 five thousand florins, ($ 10,000.) This extraordinary 

 traffic was, however, soon checked by the interference 

 of the Legislature, who enacted that no Tulip, or other 

 flower, should be in future sold for a sum exceeding 

 about fifty guineas, and so effectual has been this law, 

 that at present the highest price of any Tulip in that 

 country is only one hundred and fifty florins, ($ 60,) and 

 the highest priced Lily three hundred florins, ($ 120.) 

 Tulips are divided into early and late blowers ; the for- 

 mer begin blooming about the 15th of April, and are 

 followed by the later kinds in succession until the end 

 of May ; the late kinds produce the largest flowers, the 

 stems of which are generally from twenty to thirty 

 inches in height* 



HYACINTHS — Hyacinthus orientalis. 

 This favourite flower, which, with its great beauty, 

 combines also the most exquisite fragrance, has been 

 cultivated in Holland to an equal extent with the Tulip, 



