New-York tribune., 1910-02-21
BLACK FLOW ERS
> am Efforts in Past Ages to
Produce Them.

u 'Ent' 1910 by the brentwood Company
ousahds or wears horticultursts
~ al parts of the world. in the Occident,
"u' more especially in the Orient, have
oeea endeavoring To nroduce hy one
tnea'iS or another. a perfectly black flower.
->a'ure mas for reasons of her OWN hafied
Gil ihoW Efforts Their la bors, their re
searches their science went for nothing.
h'aSk mas hitherto been the one hue
against which Dame Flora has set her face
s1'd with which she would have nothing
whatsoever to do II, therefore, it is really
true that Dennis Taplcy. the crippled key
ring maker from Savannah, Ca. who is
now in Washington for the purpose Of get
ting patent for process whereby black
roses may be grown. has really succeeded
In producing black roses. as he alleges. he
will enjoy from henceforth a niche in the
Temple of Fame beside that other winner
OF tho heretofore unattainable-nameiy.
Commander Peary, who reached the North
Pole.
For. despite the fascinating novel of
Alexandra Dumas. entitled The Black
Tulip. there is reason TO believe that
The hero of his story, Cornelius van Baerie
ever really produced black tulips at Haar-
lem or that he won the prize of 10000
horins offered by William of Orange and
the States General of Holland as an in
centiye to this victory over nature True,
Dumas had some ba sis for his story
The old Dutch writer's on gardeners and
gardening diiate enthusiastically upon the
original Hssrlem black tulip. for which as
mitch as $4,000 a bulb is claimed to have
teen paid: but careful investigation fails to
reveal any proof that a black tulip was
ever produced. or that it ever existed. and
hoe
made to producing black tulips is the
so-calIed Sultan tulip, which was frst
shown in 1895, and is of sombre purple
as TO be almost black.
l do not recommend any Of my readers
10 cndeavor to emulate the mythical hero
of Alexandra Dumas. Indeed, they would
do well. especially il they are in the least
bit superstitious to avoid the culture or
trlips For according 10 the researches
Of the Society of Psychologists OF France
which has its headquarters at Paris. the
tIlip ix the one flower or all others "hlCh
exercises a malignant influence upon those
who cultivate its bulbs, and the Society
furnishes a list of many hundreds Oh az
where tuIip growers have either met WIN
violent deaths or else been oVertakeh pS
disaster. -.
with regard TO black roses, l behcNe iiidI
the most sombre- hued roses III eNiS'eio'
are 10 he found in certain portions OF 'he
.,ar5eus of the Vatican. They are OF -
6ark = red as 10 be almost black ahu'
while there i no truth IN the II"'t tu'o''
s,or,, Ia tho effect that their color vas pro
aurad by watering them with human pioou'
il is = fact that the particular part OK
The gardens where they Srow was IN inedl-
s,vsl ages the scene Of a s2nguinary ARRAY
and of n1Ilch bloodshed. From time lnihe-
,norisl = superstition has existed TO the el-
feet thai roses and flowers senerallE, at
tain the greatest beauty in SOIL fertiizeo
b,- blood. especially by human blood. Every
racing man and racing woman who mas
visited Newmarket. in England, knows OF
she so-cailed Bloody Flower of Newman
10, which IS 10 he found nowhere else
,,rt il, tho old nloat now filed up and IN
1--,,icb according TO tradition, many BOD
los of human beings are buried ihese
aov,ers bloonl in June and July, ana cer-
tainlz-. by the dark. bIoodlike hue OF their
blossoms, suggest the name that mas oeelt
rj,-ru TO them According TO legend and
;nrirrt mythology. violets are Indebted Tor
their origin 10 the blood Of the self-slan
Avs. although. according 10 another
legend they were originally eil white, and
owe their violet hue 20 the fact that. rals-
ing their eyes upward on an occasion When
tre-- ought TO have kept them dlscreetIy
lowered. they have remained blushing ever
since.