TULIP. 
produce the most showy results, in specially pre- 
pared beds. The situation must be open and 
airy; the ground should be dug out to the depth 
of about 20 inches; the excavated space should 
be filled with a compost .of about one part of 
well rotted cow’s dung and about two parts of 
rich; fresh, loamy, somewhat sandy soil; and 
the bulbs should be deposited at distances of 
about seven inches from one another, and ata 
depth of four inches or less according to their 
size. A sprinkling of fine dry sand may be put 
on the site of each bulb; and as much of the 
same material may be sprinkled over the bulb 
as might prevent the coherence to it of mois- 
tened soil. The best time for planting is from 
the first till the tenth day of November. The 
collocation of different classes of flowers may be 
done to suit the cultivator’s personal taste; but 
that of different heights of stem should be in the 
successive rows,—the shortest in the front, and 
the tallest in the rear; and in order to facilitate 
this arrangement, all fine varieties,’ previously 
not known to the cultivator, ought to be de- 
scribed to him as of the row, whether first, 
second, third, or fourth, to which they are suited. 
An awning may be erected over the bed in 
spring, after the nascent flowers begin to show 
colours; but should be so constructed as to per- 
mit the free play of light and air during all the 
morning and the evening, between the extremes 
of midnight cold and mid-day sunshine. No 
artificial watering ought ever to be given. As 
soon as the petals fall, the incipient fructification 
ought to be cut away; when the leaves become 
embrowned, and the top of the stem begins to 
wither, the bulbs should be unearthed, and placed 
in a dry situation; and in August or September, 
the bulbs may be freed from their fibres, loose 
skins, and young offsets, and stowed away in 
drawers. 
The fine varieties of garden tulip at present in cul- 
tivation are exceedingly numerous, and amount at 
least to five or six hundred; yet some of the most 
common bear a number of different names, and falsely 
pass in many catalogues for as many kinds as they 
have names,—and some of the least common are 
eminently beautiful, and owe their uncommonness 
rather to want of fashion than to real scarceness. A 
brief notice of a few of the principal varieties, there- 
fore, may serve the double purpose of acting some- 
what as a check upon the market catalogues, and of 
guiding novices in amateur culture to the making of 
a pre-eminently good small collection. 
Polyphemus, a very common but first-rate bizarre, 
suitable for the second and the third rows, bears 
many names, and is sold under most or all at dif- 
ferent prices. The ground colour of it is rather 
pale yellow, the markings are dark and good, but 
often too heavy; the form pretty nearly the best; 
the petals lying so close as to form.a whole cup; in 
general the purest of the bizarres, but ugly in its 
breeder state, and when it has gone nearly back. 
The bottom, however, is never stained, but the 
colour of the anthers occasionally runs a little down 
the stamens. This would be a blemish if compared 
with one which was not so; but coloured stamens 
is not a disqualification like a stained bottom.— 
Captain White, Sanzoe, Captain Black, or Admi- 
O01 
ral Black, is one of the most beautiful bizarres, 
in several respects the best, and belongs to the 
second tow. The yellow is exceedingly rich; and 
the marking greatly varied in style, but nearly al- 
ways splendid. This flower is above the average 
in form, though not equal to Polyphemus in com. 
pactness and neatness of construction; yet it very 
rarely occurs without three very slight stains at the 
base of three of the petals, so slight that hundreds 
would overlook them.— Surpass Catafalque is a 
bizarre of great pretensions as to form, and probably 
excels in that respect all our present varieties. I¢ 
belongs to the second and third rows. The yellow 
1s not so fine, and the marking not so dark as in 
many others; but, well grown, it is a fine show 
flower, quite pure, often very neatly and perfectly 
feathered. It is also very plentiful and cheap.— 
Charbonnier Noir is a very pure bizarre, with very 
bad marking; that is to say, there is great uncer- 
tainty. It is very apt to come with portions of the 
breeder colour, so much so, as to scarcely afford one. 
showable or well-marked bloom in twenty ; but, 
when perfect, it is a most splendid bizarre, with 
fine, but pale yellow, splendid bottom, and not a 
bad form. It so rarely comes in perfection that 
good specimens of it have borne other names as if 
they were distinct varieties. Pompe Funebre is a 
bizarre of great price and pretensions, but of quite 
second-rate, if not worse, form, The yellow is 
brilliant, and the marking generally pretty and al- 
ways effective. The flower is in repute, but is a 
very unsafe one to show in a stand, if the judges go 
in earnest at the properties; for it must lose every 
point in regard to form.—Brown’s Polyphemus is as 
compact as the original Polyphemus, but bigher on 
the sides, so as to forma rather longer cup. ‘The 
yellow is deep and rich; the marking darker than in 
any other, —in fact, as nearly black as it can be when 
in good order. It appears rather a constant flower; 
and rises well up to the fourth row when full grown, 
and the third when comparatively undersized; and it 
is at present one of the dearest varieties in the mar- 
ket.—Thomas Brown is a bizarre of the fourth row, 
fully as noble as the last mentioned, but different. 
The flame is large; the yellow a good gold colour; 
the marking very striking; feather and flower too; 
and generally the colour outside better than that of 
many others. ‘The size is above the average, and 
remarkably showy in a bed; a half-grown root will 
reach the third row.—Lawrence’s Duke of Clarence 
comes in twenty different characters, and has had as 
many names. It is one of those indistinct and ec- 
centric flowers which, besides changing character, 
actually change colour; sometimes a bright yellow 
and dark markings, but the outside always dull, and 
a struggle between a dirty white and a straw colour; 
and the markings not half defined, even when the 
inside is tolerable. The inside is sometimes a good, 
though not a brilliant yellow; but the outside is 
never bright. It is, however, a bold middle-row 
variety; and possesses a medium character between 
a bizarre and a tricolor.—Leonatus Posthumus is 
singular but not splendid, curious but not beautiful. 
It has almost always a flame without feather, a 
brown and yellow, with nothing strikingly good to 
recommend it; and its chief merit is that of differing 
in colour and character from all the old bizarres. It 
grows, according to the size of the root, in the first, 
second, or third row; and is quite clean, but not of 
very good form.—Solon is a first, or, at the most, 
second-row bizarre, of better form than the pre- 
ceding, showy, with good yellow, and very often 
highly uniform marking; frequently flame without 
much feather,—sometimes without any. It makes 
a striking flower in the first row, because the flower 
is large in proportion to the height. The yellow is 
palish, but very pretty and bright.—Lord Colling- 
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