1 
THE CULTURE AND PEOPERTIES OF THE TULIP. 
307 W 
ov foul' 'weeks. As soon as the flowers fade, shade them no longer, let them have all the air, and all 
the rain. Those who grow Tulips in perfection, have a regular Tulip-house, with canvas hlinds to 
open and shut on the sides, and rolling cloths 
to let down, when required, to form the roof; 
and the same house does for Carnations, and 
Picotees in bloom, and for greenhouse plants, 
when they would otherwise be turned out; for 
the advantage of careful occasional shading, in 
the middle hours of hot weather, can hardly be 
over-rated. By the end of June, the stems of 
the Tulips, will have turned brown or yellow, 
and, as soon as the leaves begin to decay, the 
bulbs may be taken up. A series of drawers, 
with seven partitions in width, enable us to 
take them up as they are planted, and they 
are ready for planting again. The best time 
for planting, is the last half of October, and 
the first half of November. Tulip seed may be 
sown cither in autumn or spring, in the same 
kind of soil ; it should be saved from the best 
flowers, grown by themselves in a part of the 
garden where there are no worse ones to hiu-t 
the seed. Many growers affect to cross the 
Tulip, but if half a dozen of those wliich have 
striking qualities, be placed by themselves, and 
pretty close, nature will aid the sporting, and 
effect combinations of which we never think. 
Through the summer months the bulbs must be 
kept in their hoses in a dry, cool place, where 
frost cannot touch theni ; they are best in a 
alone, with their labels, that they may be 
the main bulbs. Breeders, which we have 
Extreme dcptll-^ one-half of a hollow ball. 
dwelling-house. The small offsets should be planted 
known, but they should be grown in similar soil to 
already described as scedhngs not broken into colour, 
may be grown in any soil ; many florists think changes will cause them to break sooner into 
colours, but there are no means of hastening this, though Various secrets have been sold, and 
numerous growers have fancied particular nostrums. It has been said that poor soil hastened 
it; but this is all nonsense, a bed of breeders may yield no changes for years, and then, all at once, the 
greater portion will break ; some aff'ect to find the cause, but it amounts to nothing. The very best 
cultivators in the kingdom confess, as we 
t V 
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Extreme shallowness— one-thirtl of a hollow hall 
The following are the 
do om's, their entire ignorance of any 
means that will hasten the breaking of 
breeders. The portrait, which precedes this 
paper, is that of a Tulip broken by Mr. 
Groom of Clapham, from a seedling of his 
own raising, and though some growers 
fancy it like one thing, and others liken it 
to something else, we see no particular 
likeness of anything we have at present, 
and take it to be a new and a good Bizarre. 
Seedlings only require to be taken up every 
year from the first, to the time they bloom^ 
and they are then treated like other Tulips, 
as to the time of taking up, and the time 
and distance of planting. As soon as they 
flower, then root out every one which has 
a stained bottom, or pointed petals, or that 
Properties," as quoted from the volume published under 
are thin and flims3'-. 
that title ; — 
"1. The cup should form, when quite expanded, from half to a third of a hollow ball. 
To do this, the petals 
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