TUBEROSE.

POLIANTHES.

NARCISSEE.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

Polianthes is from the Greek, and signifies City-flower.-French, la tubéreuse; jacinthe des Indes [Indian hyacinth].-Italian, tuberoso; tubero Indiano [Indian bulb].

THE Tuberose grows naturally in India, whence it was first brought to Europe. In the warmer parts of the European continent it thrives as well as in its native soil. In Italy, Sicily, and Spain, the roots thrive and propagate without care where they are once planted. The Genoese cultivate it, and send the roots annually to England, Holland, and Germany, where the climate is less congenial to it.

This plant has long been cultivated in English gardens for its extraordinary beauty and fragrance.

There are several varieties; one with double flowers, "which was obtained from the seed by Monsieur Le Cour, of Leyden in Holland, who for many years was so tenacious of the roots, even after he had propagated them in such plenty as to have more than he could plant, that he caused them to be cut in pieces, to have the vanity of boasting that he was the only person in Europe who possessed this flower; but of late years the roots have been spread into many parts*."

Those roots are the best which are the largest and plumpest, provided they are sound and firm, and the fewer offsets they have, the stronger they will flower. The under part of the roots should be particularly examined, because it is there that they first decay. Before the roots are

* See Miller.

planted, the offsets should be taken off, or they will draw a great deal of nourishment from the old root. They may be planted in April and May, but should be kept indoors, admitting fresh air in mild weather: most persons raise these flowers in a hot-bed, but the temperature of an inhabited room will generally bring them forward. They should be supported by sticks as the flower-stems advance in height, and should have little or no water till they begin to shoot; when in flower, they require plenty.

Flowers raised in this manner will blow about September and October, adorning and perfuming the apartment they are placed in, in a very agreeable manner. When the roots are strong, they will often produce ten or twelve flowers, and the stem will rise three or four feet high. As the flowers come out in spikes, opening successively from the bottom to the top, they will, of course, continue longer in beauty in proportion to the number they produce. They may be placed in a balcony in summer weather, if desired; but the double-flowered variety must remain in the room: if these are placed at a little distance from a closed window on which the sun shines (yet the room being properly ventilated), they will open more fair than when too much exposed.

The Malayans style the Tuberose the Mistress of the Night:

"The tuberose, with her silvery light,

That in the gardens of Malay

Is called the Mistress of the night,

So like a bride, scented and bright,

She comes out when the sun's away."

LALLA ROOKH.

We are to remember here that the poet is speaking of the lady's habits when in her native country; in our colder climate she must wait for the sunshine.

When worn in the hair by a Malayan lady, it informs her lover that his suit is pleasing to her.

BB

TULIP.

TULIPA.

LILIACEE.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

Tulipa, from the resemblance of the flower to the eastern headdress, called Tulipan, or Turban. Gerarde calls it Turk's-cap, or Dalmatian-cap, a name more commonly given to the Martagon-lily.— French, la tulipe.—Italian, tulipano.

TULIPS are supposed to have been introduced into England about the year 1580. The kind commonly called the Garden Tulip has many varieties, which increase in number every year. In 1629 Parkinson enumerates 140 varieties: "But to tell you of all the sorts," says he, "which are the pride of delight, they are so many, and

as

I may say almost infinite, doth pass my ability, and, as I believe, the skill of any other. There is such a wonderful variety and mixture of colours in them, that it is almost impossible for the wit of man to decipher them thoroughly, and to give names that may be true, and several distinctions to every flower. Threescore several sorts of colours, simple and mixed, I can reckon up that I have, and of especial note; and yet I doubt not, but for every one of them there are ten others differing from them, But besides this glory of variety in colours that these flowers have, they carry so stately and delightful a form, and do abide so long in their bravery, that there is no lady or gentlewoman of any worth that is not caught with this delight." One of the earliest blowing varieties is the Duke Nanthol, which is in great estimation, as is also the Claremond; but it would be endless to attempt enumeration: all are esteemed. The best soil to plant Tulip roots in is a sandy earth, with the turf rotted amongst it: some add

1

a fourth of sea-sand. The roots must be planted three or four inches deep, according to their size. The earlyblowers should be planted in September, in a pot about ten or eleven inches deep; they should remain in-doors till April or May. If the weather be very scorching when they are in flower, they must be shaded in the heat of the day. When the flowers have decayed, and the seed-vessel begins to swell, it must be broken off; for if they are permitted to seed, the roots will be weakened thereby.

When the leaves of the early-blowers have decayed, which will be while the late blowers are yet in flower, the roots must be taken up, cleaned, spread in the shade to dry, and put away in a dry and secure place till they are wanted to plant again. The offsets from the roots, until they are big enough to flower, may be planted several together; but should be taken up when the leaves decay, the same as the old roots. These will flower early in the spring the later blowers will flower a month or two later, in May and June; and these last may be planted in October or November. The roots should be taken up, and replanted every year, as directed above. In mild weather Tulips may stand abroad, and may be allowed to receive a soft shower, but must be screened from heavy rains; they will require little or no water, and, while in flower, must be sheltered from rains. The Garden Tulip is a native of the Levant; Linnæus says, of Cappadocia. It is very common in Syria; and is supposed, by some persons, to be the lily of the field alluded to by Jesus Christ. In Persia, where it grows in great abundance, it is considered as the emblem of perfect lovers. "When a young man presents one to his mistress," says Chardin, “he gives her to understand, by the general colour of the flower, that he is on fire with her beauty; and by the black base of it, that his heart is burnt to a coal." Chardin saw it on the

northern confines of Arabia. Conrad Gesner first made the eastern Tulip known by a description and figure. Balbinus asserts that Busbequius brought the first Tulip-roots to Prague, whence they were spread all over Germany. Busbequius himself says, in a letter written in 1754, that this flower was then new to him. We know that he collected natural curiosities, and brought many from the Levant. He relates that he paid very dear to the Turks for Tulips; but he nowhere affirms that he was the first who brought them from the East. In 1565, there were Tulips in the garden of Mr. Fugger, from whom Gesner wished to procure some. The first Tulips planted in England were sent from Vienna about the end of the sixteenth century *.

These flowers, of no further utility than to ornament gardens, and whose duration is short and very precarious, became, in the middle of the seventeenth century, the object of a trade for which there is no parallel, and their price rose beyond the value of the most precious metals. Many authors have given an account of this trade, some of whom have misrepresented it. Menage called it the Tulipomania, at which people laugh because they believe that the beauty and rarity of the flowers induced florists to give such extravagant prices. But this Tulip-trade was a mere gambling commerce, and the Tulips themselves were only nominally its objects: many bargains being daily made, and the roots neither given nor received. A long and curious account of this trade is to be found in the first volume of Beckmann's History of Inventions.

Persons fond of flowers, however, particularly in Holland, have paid very high prices for Tulips, as the catalogues of flowers show. In the year 1769 the dearest

See Beckmann's History of Inventions, vol. i.