BARR’S BEAUTIFUL “ENGLISH AMATEUR” TULIPS. 
15 
MRR’S REAUTIFUL “ENGLISH AMATEUR ” TULIPS. 
May-flowering. 
Awarded by ike Royal Horticultural Society a Silver Medal, May gth, 1893. 
Awarded at the Temple Show, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Silver Cup, May 25th, 1893, 
and the R.H.S. Silver Gilt Flora Medal, May 8th, 1894. 
These beautiful Tulips in the South of England commence flowering according to the earliness or lateness 
of the season, from the first to the last week in May. Dr. Hogg can testify- that if looked after they may be 
enjoyed for a month. The "English Tulip” is pre-eminently an amateur’s flower, and has been so for 
about 300 years. London was at one time the centre of Amateur Tulip growers, Scotland then dividing 
the honour. The Amateur element at the present time is mainly centred in Derbyshire, Lancashire, and 
Yorkshire, and in these counties many fine varieties have been raised during the last forty years. Amateurs 
who may be induced to take up Tulip culture will be pleased to read the following extract from the Manchester 
Guardian, 2nd June, 1892, from the pen of the late Mr. Samuel Barlow, one of the greatest authorities on 
“English Amateur ” Tulips 
"The best Amateur Tulips known to exist, or that have ever existed, have been raised in England, 
principally in the Northern counties — Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire. Over forty years ago the late 
Dr. Hardy, of Warrington, in a series of papers to the Midland Florist, completely settled all the points of 
excellence which go to make a first-class Florist Tulip, and his definitions have never since been disputed. 
Since then the cultivation of Florist Tulips has much improved, especially in the three counties named, although, 
singular to say, it has almost died out in the South of England, where, fifty years ago, the most enthusiastic 
Tulip growers made London their centre for exhibitions. There arc distinct evidences now of a revival of 
interest in the South of this grand old flower, and I hope that the Exhibitions of the Royal National Tulip 
Society will give additional stimulus to the cultivation and love for this fascinating flower.” 
Barrs Prize Medals for 1895 will be awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society, 117, Victoria Street, 
Westminster, London, at two meetings in May and one in June for “ English Amateur" Tulips, to give 
exhibitors from the North and the South equal chances for competition ; dates for competition will be fixed in 
November. 1st Prize, Barr's Large Silver Flora Medal. 2nd Prize, Barr's Small Silver Medal. 
3 rd Prize, Barrs Large Bronze Medal. The competition will be for the largest and finest exhibit. Fuller 
particulars on application. 
The Rev. Francis D. Horner, a most successful Amateur Tulip cultivator and raiser of new varieties, read 
a valuable paper on " Amateur Tulips ” to the Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society, April 19, 1892, and 
the same will be found in Vol. XV., Parts 2 and 3, “Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society,” page 99. 
We commend it for perusal by intending Amateur Tulip Cultivators. 
In "Hardy Florist Flowers,” by Mr. James Douglas, there is a chapter on "ENGLISH TULIPS," which 
deals with the whole subject of planting, lifting, and general culture. 
Our Woodcuts represent 
the upper sections only of 
Tulip petals. The one on 
the left shows what is termed 
a feathered flower, the colour 
being confined mainly to the 
edge of the petal. The right 
hand block represents a 
flamed flower, the colour 
runs round the edge of the 
petal, and in the centre breaks 
into a flame. 
The Woodcuts are simply 
intended as representations of 
typical markings. But it is as 
well to state, however, that there is a certain variability in the colouring of these " Amateur Tulips " from one 
year to another, and it is seldom a flower repeats exactly the same amount of colouring in its dress, but even 
this is not without its interest to Amateurs ; a feathered flower will sometimes become flamed, and a flamed 
flower feathered. The colour will sometimes be heavier and sometimes lighter, this difference being often the 
result of culture. 
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 hybridisers 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 
dowering 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 Amateur s 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 Bybloemens 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, 
12 and 13 King Street, Covent Garden, 1894.] 
