i6 
BARR’S BEAUTIFUL “ENGLISH AMATEUR” TULIPS. 
Our Collection of “ English Amateur ” Tulips numbers about 450 varieties, of these about 20,000 
bulbs will be planted this Autumn, and the flowers may be seen by visitors during May, 1895, at our Nurseries, 
Long Ditton, a few minutes from Surbiton Station, on the South Western Rail. 
Condensed from the Journal of Horticulture, June 2nd and 9th, 1892: — 
" English Tulips." — The name, " English Tulips” has something beyond insular pride to recommend it. 
In the 333 years which have elapsed since Conrad Gesner brought Tulipa Gesneriana from Constantinople, 
marvellous work has been accomplished by bybridisers with this species, but it was in England {during the last fifty 
years') that the properties which are most esteemed in the best Tulips of to-day — perfect form, smoothness, sub- 
stance of petal, and clean base— were developed. {From a gathering together of bulbs from many sources during 
1893, we find that the old Tulip Amateurs in England, Scotland, and Holland grew a larger and coarser 
flowering Tulip than the Amateurs of the present day , and very few of their flowers possessed the clean base 
which at the present period is an indispensable requisite. The shape and substance was also much inferior to the 
Tulip of the present time. The Scotch Amateurs have died out, and the Dutch growers have made no forward 
progress , so that the remarks in this article of the “ Journal of Horticulture ” refer to the Tulips of the English 
Amateurs in the Northern Counties , where progress has been steadily going on for the last fifty years. 
The absorbing interest of the “English Tulips" does not lie solely in their beauty of form and rich 
markings. Their life-history is not the unbroken, uneventful one that other flowers enjoy. There comes a time 
when the self-coloured seedling flower is a self no more, the rose, scarlet, or violet shining above the central 
silvery moon or ground of the Bybloemcns and Roses, or the golden base of the Bizarres, breaking upwards into 
marvellous featherings and flamings of colour, reminding one of the contrast between the dull cocoon and the 
brilliant, fluttering butterfly. The new shades are not the vagaries of a day, but, once the flower breaks into 
its radiant colours, they remain to dazzle and delight those who see them. The “ breeder " (seedling) that is, 
the self-coloured Tulip in its first stage is, so to speak, but the canvas prepared for the painting, and when in 
due course the colours are mixed and the picture completed, it is one that will not fade under the hand of time. 
For a long time it seemed as if they would have no trade home ; but a colony, and not a small one, has 
been formed at Long Ditton in Messrs. Barr & Son’s grounds of Daffodil fame. If Mr. William Barr can do 
for and with these Tulips a tithe of what the energetic and devoted head of the firm did for the Daffodil, he will 
make himself a name that will not soon be forgotten. The young fancier is enthusiastic, diligent, and careful, 
as was evident when note was taken on a sultry day of 5000 or 6000 individual blooms, under the cool guidance 
of a veteran (Dr. Hogg). 
Condensed from the Journal of Horticulture , May 4th, 1893 
The Dutch Florists’ Tulips are wholly distinct from and distinctly inferior to the type of '* English Amateur” 
Tulips. This is plainly seen when extensively grown in comparison, as in Messrs. Barr & Son’s Collection. 
It may be asked, “ Why are not these * English Amateur ' Tulips more popular ? Because there has been 
no attempt to popularize them. Connoisseurs as a body have valued them for their rarity, and have not 
willingly let them “go.” Years of unremitting care in their preservation, following years of waiting from the 
flowering of seedlings to the breaking from the self-coloured or breeder stage into the flames of colour or 
feathered fringes that corne to stay (see Woodcuts), and give life-long pleasure to those who own and cherish 
them. Is there much wonder that they should be jealously guarded. 
The choicer and rarer named varieties of “English Amateur” Tulips have hitherto been difficult to 
obtain, but Mr. Peter Barr has taken them in hand, and the same energy, perseverance, and knowledge which, 
from the smallest of beginnings, resulted in the world-famed collection of Daffodils, is bound to have effect 
in a very material way in inciting public interest in our “ English Amateur ” Tulips. 
Mr. Barr is a believer in the dictum that the supply of anything good creates a demand, ns his 
“English Amateur" Tulips come from the best sources and are increased at Long Ditton, where they now 
number many thousands. The demand for bulbs last year was good, and has given an impetus to production. 
Tlie Long Ditton Collection is in full beauty now (early in May), and the collection, while full of interest 
to experts, affords valuable lessons for learners. Day by day, from far and near, come old florists and young 
aspirants to view them. Every flower is scanned, its points noted, and merits or defects recorded. 
Extracted from the letter of an Amateur groiver of "English Amateur" Tulips: — “ Ever since you were 
here I have been noting and criticising my Tulips, and to such an extent has the subject grown upon me I am 
quite as daft on the subject as ever you were on the Daffodils.” 
Condensed from the Journal of Horticulture , May 10th, 1894: — 
“English Amateur" Tulips are the most brilliant of all the hardy flowers of early summer, and there 
is hope that their claims to attention will not be so completely ignored in the future as they have been in the 
comparatively recent past in the southern parts of England, for in the north there have always been a number of 
connoisseurs who have devoted great attention to and derived an extraordinary amount of pleasure from their 
Tulip beds and shows. 
That a revival in public interest is being awakened in these brilliant, chaste, and refined flowers is apparent. 
Information respecting them is more generally sought for, and a demand for bulbs of approved varieties is 
springing up. Mr. Peter Barr, with his acute intuitiveness and boundless energy, is trying to meet the demand 
(or shall we say create it ?) by increasing his supplies, and amateurs who have become fascinated by their flowers 
are influencing others in the same direction, while the once seldom-heard-of Florists’ Tulips are now recognized 
by the Royal Horticultural Society. Tulip shows have done much to teach those who visit them wherein the 
beauty consists of the blooms that stir the souls of those who love because they understand them. 
[ Barr and Son. 
