54 
THE FLORISTS JOURNAL. 
red is the accidental colour, is the accidental colour of yellow ; and 
so on of the others. Hence it appears that the remainder, or 
complement of the solar beam, always forms the accidental, or 
relieving and heightening colour to any single tint; and if we 
follow this order in our arrangements, we can produce a harmony 
of all the compounds, though white and black do not come into 
the circuit. 
In this, however, as in all other cases, actual observation does 
not quite agree with theory ; and the chief reason of this is, the 
variety of light tints of colour which are continually sporting in 
the atmosphere, and varying the tones of every landscape, and the 
tints of every flower, almost every moment. But this, instead of 
being any disadvantage to us, is quite the contrary; because it 
multiplies all the beauties of nature to a very great extent. 
We can have a simple illustration of this by looking at the disc 
of the sun, especially when near the horizon, until the eyes are 
dazzled; and then, by turning aside a little, w*e see numerous 
discs, of a purplish green colour; and if w r e manage the eyelids 
judiciously, we can turn those visual spectra of the solar disc to 
almost any colour we please. The subject of compound or result¬ 
ing colours, though an important one to the florist, is, however, 
one of which we must defer the consideration to a future paper. 
ON TULIPS. 
EY MR. GROOM, WALWORTH. 
In giving a description of the properties and the mode of 
cultivation of a flower like the tulip, which has received so much 
attention for so long a period, I fear I shall be charged with re¬ 
peating what has already been stated by others ; but, as all your 
readers may not be aw r are of these properties, or of the facility with 
which a bed of tulips can be managed, I shall venture to give a 
short description. If we commence with Tulipa Gesneriana, 
from which all our fine varieties are said to have been obtained, 
w r e cannot but admire the perseverance of the first cultivators of 
this flower, the Dutch, as the time and labour necessary to obtain 
the varieties which we have received from them must have been 
enormous,—when we consider that the Tulipa Gesneriana , as w r e 
