BARR & SONS, 12 & 13 King Street, Covent Garden, London. 55 
But while we coolly, and not over-enthusiastically, adopted this Oriental wayside plant, something 
very different was going on in a neighbouring country. The Tulip had made its Western way to Holland, 
and to the Dutchman it came as a revelation. Who can fathom the mysterious combination of circum- 
stances resulting in a popular craze ? The level-headed, unemotional, keenly practical Dutchman awoke 
one morning to find that he, and his compatriots with him, had, like one man, become Tulipomaniacs 
rampant and reckless. Fortunes were paid for a single rare Tulip bulb ; crimes were committed for the 
possession of a Viceroy or an Admiral Leifken ; and the theft or loss of a Tulip bulb was a national mis- 
fortune. All classes were infected, and for the three years from 1634 to 1637 Holland was but a large 
asylumful of Tulipomaniacs. 
It was at this time that the worthy London citizen, going over to Holland for trade purposes, was so 
far infected by the craze that reigned supreme as to send home to the tender care of his housekeeper a 
precious bulb, worth some hundreds of pounds sterling. On his return from his long and perilous 
journey to Holland, he asked at once after his bulb. Had it been safely received ? Yes, the beldame 
ceplied, it had arrived ; but she did not think much of the Dutch bulb. The taste was not up to that 
of English onions. She had cooked and eaten it ! 
The historic event of the Dutch Tulipomania ended as suddenly as it had begun. The nation’s 
enthusiasm was spent ; only the professional bulb-growers remained faithful. 
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 and 
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 Long 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 beautiful 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. 
Mr. William Barr, a partner of the firm of Barr and Sons, who is as enthusiastic over his Tulips as 
are his most enchanted visitors, gave a representative a day or two ago a few interesting details about 
Tulips and Tulip- growing in England 
“ Are the Dutch late Tulips exactly like the English ?” 
“ No, they differ a good deal. The Dutch growers have always given their chief attention to the 
colour of the Tulip. A fine colour is everything with them. Now English Tulip-growers insist on a 
good base and on perfect form, as well as purity of colour. The base of the petals in most Dutch 
Tulips is of an undecided or muddy colour. With us, unless the base is of a snowy, dazzling white or a 
clear yellow, we do not consider the flower good. 
“ Is it difficult to grow Tulips?” 
“ Not at all. The Tulip is so hardy, and requires so little special care, that it is one of the easiest 
as well as the most beautiful spring flowers to cultivate. Then there are so many early and late varieties 
that you can have a continual show from February till June. Hailstorms are one of the Tulip’s chief 
enemies, as they are of most flowers. Otherwise it has very little to fear from the climate. 
“And here,” Mr. Barr explained, as we stood beside an enormous bed of exquisitely beautiful 
Tulips, broad-petalled, and the shape of graceful cups, “ you have a bed of Danuin Tulips, one of the 
finest sections of Tulips. The name is purely a fancy name. It was given by a private gentleman who 
(raised this variety, He had been working quietly and alone for many years at improving his Tulips, and 
all at once he came out with this splendid result of his work. They are a late race of Tulips, coming 
into bloom after the Tulips we see in our parks have shed their petals. In growth they are tall and 
stately, with flowers of perfect form and great substance, of uniform colours and richest hues. The 
Sultan reminds one of Dumas’ * Black Tulip,' being of a glossy maroon black.” 
But time in a Tulip garden flies. The train, with a bush of golden broom on the bosom of its 
engine, carries you back to Waterloo. The show is over ; the Tulips are gone. But you may see them 
at the show to-morrow. __ 
Barr's Nurseries, Long Ditton, Surrey (Surbiton (Station, X. &S. W. By.) 
