The St. Johns herald., 1891-05-07
TULIPS BY THE THOUSAND
Something About the Bulbs That
 Sleep in Park Beds.

They Will Blossom in Splendid Masses 0i Color Next Spring-HolIand and tho Tu-
 lip Craze of the Seventeenth Century
 Fabulous Prices for a Single Bulb.
 Nearly ninety thousand tulip bulbs slurnber in the rich loan that consti- tutes the great flower beds dotting the parks and public squares of this city, says the New York Star. They are safe enough from any frost that ever visits this latitude, and they are sure to peep above the ground with the earliest hint of spring, and to flame into splendid color before the month of May. Last years designs will be repeated in this years tulip beds. Tn the circular bed at the corner of Fifth avenue and Fifty-ninth street the tulips will blossom in eccentric circles, each Of different color. At the corner of Eighth avenue and Fifty-ninth street will glow great Japanese bird kite, resplendent with red, white and yellow tulips. There will be, also, splendid beds near the Arsenal in Central Park, in Tompkins square, near Claremont, in the City Hall Park, and at several other points.
 It is peculiarly appropriate that the most magnificent show of tulips to be seen anywhere in America should be made in this city, for the town was set tied by Dutchmen just at time when Holland was in the midst of the tulip craze. Holland has never entirely recovered from that craze, and the finest tulips in the world are now raised in the sandy soil behind the Dutch dykes, while New York imports her tulip buds from the home of her earliest ancestors. But the present interest in tulips among Dutchmen is nothing to the rage that reached its widest extremes in the years between 1884 and 1637. The mod ern craze for orchids is mild in compari- son to this Dutch ''tulipmania,'' as it has been learnedly called. The passion was confined to no one class of the com munity It spread through every rank of life. Poor mechanics raised in their tiny gardens marvellous blossoms, while the rich spent fortunes upon a few dozen bulbs. For three years every body talked tulips. Each spring found thousands eagerly watehful of the tulip beds. Books were written upon tulips. The habits of the flower were deeply studied There were all sorts of de- vices for hastening the blooming of the plants and prolonging the life of the blossom. Loving friends presented to one another tulips as the most precious of gifts. Acres upon acres of sandy lowlands were resplendent with these marvellous "bubbles of blood"
 Of course the craze developed an eager money-malzing spirit. Prices were monstrous-fabulous. A single fine tulip bulb fetched 13,OO0 florins, or more than S6,0OO, and three of them fetched as high as 3O,OOO fiorins Sometimes one bulb would be owned by a dozen persons. Then came dealing in futures. Men con- tracted to furnish, at future time, bulbs not yet in existence. Many more bulbs were sold each year than were ever grown in any one season. Every body bought tulips, and many specu- lators got rich. Others, however, were ruined Tulips were quoted as stocks and wheat arc quoted now. New vari- cites were constantly announced. Men travelled many miles to look at single blossom. Artists took up the matter, and to-day you may see scores of tulip pictures painted when the craze was at its height.
 The tulip craze gradually spread all over Europe, though nowhere was it so severe as in Holland. It was specially marked in Great Britain. There was much religious persecution in Europe during the latter half of the seven teenth century, and many refugees fled to liberal little Holland. They caught the tulip fever, and when some thou sands Of them went to England from Holland they carried it toGreat Britain. Even yet the finest British tulips are grown by mechanics, the descendants of those refugees.
 Holland is long past her tulip craze, but she remains the great flower-grow- ing country of Europe. Even yet fine varieties of tulips are quoted in Dutch catalogues at from twenty-five to orc hundred and fifty florins. Hyacinths are also grown to great perfection, and sold at high prices. The light sandy soil of Holland is peculiarly we'll suited to the tulip. The plant is probably ot Asiatic origin, but it has been brought to it's highest perfection in Holland, md especially about Haarlerl. The Dutch tulip raiseTs protect their beds in spring with hoops and mats.
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