June  21,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
525 
flower  was  cultivated.  I  thus  became  well  known  to  many  in  the 
horticultural  world  whose  acquaintance  stood  me  in  good  stead  when  I 
had  more  important  matters  to  attend  to,  and  from  one  and  all  I 
received,  with  rare  exceptions,  the  utmost  kindness  and  consideration. 
I  went  down,  for  instance,  to  Stapleford  to  see  that  ardent  and 
successful  florist  Eichard  Headley,  who  had  made  his  name  famous 
among  all  Auricula  growers  by  his  well  known  Geo.  L'ghtbody.  lie 
was  also  a  very  successful  Tulip  grower,  but  I  remember  he  had  one 
many  who  were  associated  with  me  in  those  days  there  are  few  whose 
memory  is  more  often  with  me  than  that  of  that  genial  and  warm¬ 
hearted  florist.  I  went  with  him  as  judge  to  Spalding  and  other 
places,  and  the  times  we  passed  together  were  very  pleasant. 
1  also  remember  paying  a  visit  to  an  amateur  near  Sevenoaks, 
but  whose  name  I  now  forget,  and  saw  a  beautiful  collection  of 
rectified  Tulips.  I  fear  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  now  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  London  to  find  such  a  collection;  indeed,  the 
Fig.  142.— CYPRIPEDIUM  SUPERBIENS. 
curious  notion,  which  I  believe  no  one  accepted  but  himself,  that  a 
portion  of  his  Tulip  beds  were  every  year  destroyed  by  some  former  . 
servant  whom  he  had  dismissed. 
At  this  time,  too,  I  ventured  to  try  and  revive  the  taste  for 
florist  flowers  by  establishing  the  Metropolitan  Floral  Society ;  but 
after  one  or  two  attempts  I  found  there  was  no  response  at  that  time  i 
sufficient  to  meet  the  requirements  of  such  a  society.  My  friend  the  j 
late  Mr.  James  Cutbush  was  of  valuable  assistance  to  me,  especially  I 
at  one  exhibition  we  held  at  the  Alexandra  Palace.  Amongst  the  ' 
collapse  of  Tulip  growing  in  the  South  is  one  of  the  recnarkable  things 
connected  with  floriculture  which  has  taken  place  in  the  last  half 
century.  Of  course  they  are  very  troublesome  and  expensive ;  ^r.do 
they  present  a  very  striking  appearance  when  placed  on  the  exhibition 
table.  The  blooms,  when  fully  expanded,  look  as  if  they  were  past 
their  best,  an^  all  the  paraphernalia  connected  with  them  do  not 
contribute  much  to  the  appearance  of  the  garden.  I  was  never  myself 
particularly  enamoured  of  the  Tulip,  though  I  could  appreciate  their 
brilliant  and  stately  beauty  when  successfully  grown.— D.,  Deal. 
