1883.] 
MR. BARLOW’S TULIPS. 
123 
than nicotine, which is denser, it follows that the 
liquid has a tendency to become thickened: hence it 
is necessary to stir the liquid now and then, adding a 
little water if requisite. If these precautions are 
neglected, one gets, instead of a watery vapour, an 
overheated coaly vapour, which may damage the 
plants. 
The vaporisations are of two kinds, preventive or 
hygienic, that is, effected from time to time, weekly 
or fortnightly, according to need; and curative, as 
when there are many insects to destroy, in which 
case it is well to repeat the operation frequently, 
say at intervals of twelve or twenty-four hours. 
Generally speaking, it is better to repeat the opera¬ 
tion oftener, and to make it lighter. 
A few hours after the house has been vaporised, 
when the effect is produced, it is necessary to syringe 
the plants with cold water, avoiding the wetting of 
the flowers when they would suffer from it. This 
applies to cases where one wishes to vaporise a whole 
house; but as it frequently happens that certain 
single plants only are attacked by insects, and re¬ 
quire to be dealt with, it is convenient to have a 
glass case, larger or smaller, where they can be 
separately treated. It is in such cases that the 
caoutchouc tube comes into requisition, and is intro¬ 
duced by means of a small aperture in the bottom 
or side of the frame, an aperture which is opened and 
closed when necessary by using a bung of moss, or 
cork, &c. When a general vaporisation takes place, 
the caoutchouc tube is not wanted, hut the vapori- 
sator is placed within the house, and, if the latter is 
large, its position is changed from time to time, so 
to regulate the distribution of the vapour that all 
parts of the atmosphere may be equally saturated.— 
(. R. E., 1883, 306.) 
MR. BARLOW’S TULIPS. 
S HE RE can be no doubt tliat Mr. Barlow 
lias now the finest collection of Tulips 
in Europe, the result of many years’ 
selection. It is not so much that he 
has raised seedlings as that he has from time 
to time been enabled to add to his Tulips very 
promising batches of breeders raised by others, 
and from these not a few gems have been ob¬ 
tained. If, however, there be a deficiency in 
that fine outline so much prized by the Lanca¬ 
shire florists, if the breeder colour flashes up 
into and weakens the beam, if the white base 
of the bybloemen or rose be stained with yellow, 
or the yellow base of the bizarre with dark, if 
there be a tendency on the part of the fila¬ 
ments to become foul, they may be relegated 
to a trial bed for another season’s experience, 
but many a variety with some fine quality or 
qualities, yet shadowed by defects that are 
regarded as permanent, has to be cast aside. 
The Tulip is a flower with a remarkable 
individuality of character, and it requires to 
be thoroughly known in order to be intelli¬ 
gently understood. It not infrequently hap¬ 
pens that a flower will open with a clouded 
base, but it speedily bleaches to a pure bottom, 
and in these cases a knowledge of the variety 
is required. It is a flower constantly liable to 
fluctuations of character ; it is not a little un¬ 
certain in development, but it is at the same 
time full of marvellous interest. A period of 
five or more years must generally elapse before 
a seedling Tulip is strong enough to flower ; 
it then almost invariably takes the breeder or 
self-coloured form, and from one or two to 
five or six and more years occur before it 
becomes rectified, i.e ., breaks into character. 
A raiser of seedling Tulips needs, therefore, to 
exercise consummate patience, and exist in an 
atmosphere of hope and expectation. Every 
year some breeders become rectified, and 
prizes or blanks are scored as the flowers 
display fine or indifferent characters. 
This season Mr. Barlow has four beds, three 
of the beds containing about 140 rows of seven 
flowers each ; the other is a bed of mixtures, 
from which the good flowers are selected 
as they can be recognised. The best bed 
contains the very choicest selection that can 
be made, though a few are discarded annually, 
others taking their places at planting time. 
The breeders are generally planted together, 
and in this state they are always of strong 
growth, producing large and striking, and in 
the cases of the roses and bybloemens es¬ 
pecially, beautiful flowers. When they become 
rectified, both height and size are frequently 
reduced. It by no means follows that a fine 
breeder will be as beautiful, and of such fine 
quality in the broken as in the breeder state ; 
and one could almost wish, in the face of this 
contingency, that some never would become 
rectified, and so much beauty become lost; but 
as it is the ultimate end of the breeder to be¬ 
come swallowed up in the broken stage, the law 
of its existence must be submitted to. 
Mr. Barlow has been exceptionally strong in 
feathered flowers this season. Of feathered 
bybloemens, the following were very fine:— 
Bessie, rather small in size, pure in the base, 
and beautifully feathered with dark; Mr. 
Jackson, broken by David Jackson, of Middle- 
ton, the feathering regular and unbroken, the 
colour rich glossy raven black on a pure white 
ground—a flower of great beauty, and the 
queen of the feathered bybloemens. Mr. 
Cooper (Boardman), a comparatively new 
flower, pure in base, and handsomely feathered 
with dark ; Mrs. Bentley (Green), a distinct 
and very scarce flower, beautifully feathered, 
and highly attractive ; and Alice Gray, finely 
feathered with brownisli-black, the base pure, 
and form fine. 
Of feathered roses, Industry stood out with 
a marked individuality : it was in beautiful 
character all over the beds, very pure in the 
ground, feathered with rich dark scarlet; 
Martin’s 101, a variety generally beautifully 
feathered, but deficient in shape, the colour 
clear pale maroon; and Nanny Gibson, very 
rich in colour, quite a scarlet, fine in the 
ground, very fine and striking. 
