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affinities of these numerous forms, without having seen and 
compared the plants in a living state. 
The influence of soil and climate upon them is very great, so 
much so that it is almost impossible to recognize the wild plants 
after a few years of cultivation, and in the arid soil and hot 
climate of Asia Minor and Turkestan, Tulips assume characters 
which are soon lost under more favourable conditions of life. 
This question hears very forcibly on the origin of species, and 
proves to my mind that the herbarum work of the botanist, at 
any rate in connection with Liliaceous, Amaryllidaceous, and 
Iridaceous plants, the only ones which I have minutely studied, 
must he tested and supplemented by the work of the garden 
before anything like an accurate knowledge can be obtained. 
I have in most cases refrained from describing the bulbs of 
the species I have seen, because, with few exceptions, I am 
unable to recognize them with certainty, and though they are 
often of some value in deciding the affinity of a plant, yet I 
do not think they can be relied on with the same certainty as in 
the genus Crocus or Lilium. 
I have marked with a (*) those species which I have seen in 
a living state, most of which have been cultivated for two or 
three years in my garden. 
I have found that all, or nearly all, are hardy in respect of their 
endurance of cold, hut many of them will not long endure our 
wet winters and cold springs without protection. It is .there¬ 
fore better to plant them in a dry situation under the shelter 
of a frame, which, while exposing them to the full sun, will 
throw off the rain dining their resting season from June or 
July to November. 
Many of the European and some of the Asiatic species 
succeed perfectly in the open border, hut it is best to lift and 
replant the bulbs every year or two. The only mode by which 
many of the species can be propagated is by seed, as offsets are 
produced very sparingly, and it seems in some cases hardly 
ever; the seed if sown when ripe germinates in spring, and 
produces full sized bulbs in six or seven years. 
* Tulijm oculis solis, St. Amand, Red. Lil., t. 219 ; Sweet’s 
‘‘Brit. Flow. Gard.,” ser. 11, t. 102. This fine Tulip is the 
type of a group characterised by the woolly down with which 
their bulb coats are lined. So nearly allied to it, that I see no 
