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BARR & SONS, 12 & 13 King Street, Covent Garden, London. 
BARR’S BEAUTIFUL ‘GOLD MEDAL’ ENGLISH TULIPS. 
MAY-FLOWERING. 
Awarded Three Gold Medals by the Royal National Tulip Society, 
1896, 1897, and 1898. 
These Beautiful English Tulips we can confidently recommend to amateurs for select places in 
the garden, and for massing in flower beds and borders. They form a valuable succession to the Early 
Tulips, while for symmetry of form and beauty of marking they far surpass them. 
Our Long Ditton Collection of English Tulips is the largest one in existence and well worth 
a visit in May, when the flowers may be seen in all their beauty. 
5©’“ To those who wish to know all about the English Tulip, we recommend ‘ The English Tulip,’ 
a little pamphlet containing the lectures delivered on this flower at the Great Tulip Conference of the 
Royal National Tulip Society, held at Royal Botanic Society's Gardens , May 12//;, 1897 namely, 
‘ The History and the Properties of the Florist Tulip,' by J. W. Bentley ; ‘ Seed and Seedlings of 
the Florist Tulip,' by the Rev. F. D. Horner ; ‘ The Cultivation of the Florist Tulip,' by C. W. 
Needham. Price 1/6. 
A short Extract from the Westminster Gazette, May nth , 1897. 
THE FEAST OF THE TULIP. 
After an interval of fifty years, a great Tulip Show and Conference is to be held to-morrow and 
Thursday in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent’s Park. This is only one sign of a revival of interest in 
the flower which has as romantic a history as any plant all the world over. Another sign of a mild 
repetition of the Tulip craze of three centuries ago is the fact that Tulip feasts, dances, and dinners are 
quite the fashion, and that at last week’s Drawing Room, Tulips were among the most popular flowers, 
both in their natural state, in bouquets, as dress ornaments, and in fanciful designs woven into the 
magnificent brocades of the Court trains. 
********* 
Just now the worship of the Tulip in this country is becoming general. That this should be so among 
Londoners and in Suburbia is probably due to a wonderful object-lesson which Messrs. Barr & Sons, the 
firm of bulb-growers whose name is honourably known among florists and flower-lovers all the world over, 
are giving at present at their Lonc. Ditton Nurseries. The surroundings of London, miles further 
out than pretty Surbiton and Long Ditton, are the happy wheeling ground of armies of cyclists. They, 
and those who go up and down by the South-Western trains, have marvellous tales to tell. 
Among the green fields where the grass is rich and high and starred with golden buttercups, among 
the hedges bursting into sweet white May-bloom, under the avenues of old elms and planes and oaks, 
there are spread out under the blue sky great stretches of living Oriental carpets. The designs, the 
colours, the look of richness and depth, are all there ; but did ever master weaver or dyer work in shades 
so luminously heautiful as these ? The sun, which otherwise sucks the colour out of a carpet, flushes these 
acres of crimson and purple and gold with colour notes, dreamt of as something unattainable in art. 
And day by day, as Spring unfolds her royal robes, these Tulip gardens grow into still greater beauty, and 
when 10,000 blossoms, their blooming-time being over, softly drop their petals, 10,000 others have arisen 
to continue the charm and spell of the scene. 
A short Extract from the Daily News, May 14th, 1897. 
Tulip Show at the Royal Botanic Gardens.—. . . The great feature of the exhibition, 
however, was the fine collection of Tulips, running nearly the whole length of the corridor, shown by 
Messrs. Barr & Sons, of Covent Garden. This at once obtained the Gold Medal of the National 
Tulip Society, and the Silver Medal of the Royal Botanic Society. Here were to be seen some of the 
finest Tulips grown this season. One section was devoted to English Tulips raised in years past by 
famous growers, and differing from all Dutch Tulips in having more perfect form and colour. They were 
certainly flowers that delighted fanciers or specialists. Another section was composed of Darwin Tulips, 
which have never been known to break into ‘ flamed ’ or ‘ feathered ’ varieties. In a third section weie 
the Parrot Tulips, while a fourth included the Cottage Tulips, mostly of the old English garden 
variety. These and other blooms made up a collection which, for variety and perfection, is seldom seen. 
A SPECIAL PRIZE FOR ENGLISH TULIPS, 1899 
Offered, by us to be competed for at the 
ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY’S SHOW, MAY 17th, 1899. 
A BEAUTIFUL SILVER CUP 
Specially designed by H. G. MOON. 
Particulars of Competition can be had on application. 
Culture. — Any good loamy garden soil suits the ‘English Tulip.’ The bulbs should be planted 
three inches deep and four inches apart, from the end of October to early in November, choosing a day 
when the ground is in nice friable condition ; avoid planting when the ground is wet. 
