May 10,1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
365 
of England, for in the north there have always been a number of 
connoisseurs who have devoted great attention to and derived an 
extraordinary amount of pleasure from their Tulip beds and shows. 
That a revival in public interest is being awakened in these 
brilliant, chaste, and refined flowers is apparent. Information 
respecting them is more generally sought for, and a demand for 
bulbs of approved varieties is springing up. Mr. Peter Barr, with 
his acute intnitiveness and boundless energy, is trying to meet the 
demand (or shall we say create it ?) by increasing his supplies, and 
amateurs who have become fascinated by their flowers are 
influencing others in the same direction, while the once seldom- 
heard-of florists’ Tulips are now recognised b}’^ the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society. True, the southern shows of these flowers 
have been small and exhibitors few; hut cultivators may 
increase in number and exhibitions in magnitude, j’^st as has 
been the case with Auriculas. Twenty years ago the whole of 
art by the rich lustrous glow of colours—never called gaudy—in the 
famous stained glass windows in our grand old cathedrals. Just as 
these monuments of art, these beautiful combinations of richness 
with delicacy, and the lessons they teach, are by universal consent 
regarded as appropriate to the noble erections that contain them—so 
are the richest and most refined of Tulips worthy of the gardens 
they adorn, and of the fostering care of those who can admire the 
most beautiful blendings of Isature and Art—the elemental colours 
of the mysterious laboratory disposed and fixed by the intellect of 
man. Florists’ Tulips are intellectual flowers, so are hosts of others ; 
but few if any there are which embody so many long years of 
watchful care in aiding their development. 
Tulip shows have done much to teach those who visit them 
wherein the beauty consists of the blooms that stir the souls of those 
who love because they understand them. But the lesson is only 
slowly learned by a mere inspection, and a master mind is needed, an 
■j 
I 
the Auriculas exhibited in London could have been displayed on 
a moderate sized dining table, but now twenty such tables would 
not be adequate for their accommodation. The increase has been 
still greater in Carnations, and now Violas and Pansies appear to 
be making similar progress, while the dainty Pinks are no longer to 
be ignored. “ Yes,” it may be said, “ but look at the difference 
between such flowers as those in chasteness and charm with the 
bold glowing Tulips.” Are they bolder than Dahlias, Japanese 
Chrysanthemums, or Pieonies ? yet have not these increased in 
favour ? Then why not Tulips ? 
It is just a question of education. No one can become enthu¬ 
siastic over these, in their way, incomparable flowers who does not 
understand them. It is only by knowing them, their points, pro¬ 
perties, and wonderful characteristics that English Tulips can be 
fully appreciated. Then it is that the so-called gaudiness disappears, 
and is supplanted by brilliancy, and such translucency in colouration 
as can nowhere else be found in Nature, and is only approached in 
expert floral teacher to demonstrate to others what is to him so clear, 
yet to them still vague and obscure. The writing of essays and the 
reading of papers may accomplish something, and in time, perhaps, a 
great deal; but more might be learnt in an hour from say the Rev. 
F. D. Horner in an explanatory discourse with typical flowers as 
illustrative than in a shoal of paper description. Possibly the time 
may come when an idea of this kind will be considered by authori¬ 
ties capable of carrying it out, that is if a desire exists in this 
direction. When such desire is apparent in reference to any section 
or aspect of gardening, the Royal Horticultural Society appears 
ready to give ear to it, and to do what is practicable in obtaining and 
dispensing instruction bearing on the advancement of knowledge in 
any department of the art over which it so worthily presides. It is 
clearly the desire of the Society to do this, and perhaps the time may 
come when it will afford through one of its expert coadjutors uselul 
elucidatory object lessons on the merits and objects, the peculiarities 
and charms of florists’ Tulips. 
