Introduction.
The cultivation of Bulbous Plants has reached a point of popularity at the present day that it has never before attained. And there is every reason to believe that this popularity is increasing from year to year as more people become better acquainted with these plants, and the ease with which the great majority of them may be grown in almost any garden. Indeed there are now so many kinds of bulbous plants that there is no difficulty in making a selection to suit the smallest garden or the most modest purse.
Of course, some kinds, such as Tulips, Daffodils and Narcissi, Hyacinths, Crocuses, Snowdrops, Scillas, Bluebells, Chionodoxas, Grape Hyacinths, Lilies, Colchicums, Gladioli, and Montbretias, will be always probably amongst the first favourites with garden lovers. But there is no reason why the Mariposa Lilies and Star Tulips, the Brodiæas and Millas, the Sternbergias and Fritillarias, and many others should not in the course of time become almost equally popular when they become better known.
Some kinds of bulbous plants have been known in British Gardens—and no doubt in continental ones also—ever since such a thing as gardening proper came to be distinguished from mere agriculture. Our native or naturalised bulbs—such as the Snake's Head Fritillary (Fritillaria Meleagris), the Yellow Star of Bethlehem (Gagea lutea), as well as the white ones (Ornithogalum nutans, pyrenaicum, and umbellatum), the Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumnale), the Lent Lily or Daffodil (Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus), the Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), the Snowflake (Leucojum vernum), the Grape Hyacinth (Muscari racemosum), the Squill (Scilla verna), and the Bluebell (S. festalis), the Martagon Lily (Lilium Martagon), and the Wild Tulip (Tulipa sylvestris) have been grown as garden plants for 400 years or more.
The great monastic establishments were the seats of gardening as of learning, and it is in connection with them we find the first traces of bulbous or any other plants being intelligently cultivated. Besides the plants mentioned, our earliest garden records show that such bulbous plants as the Dog's Tooth Violet (Erythronium Dens-Canis), the Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis), Gladiolus communis, the Garden Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), the Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum), the Poet's Narcissus and the Jonquil (N. poeticus and N. Jonquilla), the Star Hyacinth (Scilla amoena), the Lily of the Field (Sternbergia lutea), and Gesner's Tulip (T. Gesneriana), were among the first kinds cultivated from the beginning of the 16th century, and they are all more popular to-day than ever. Following these we find such Tulips as suaveolens and Clusiana, the yellow-flowered Onion (Allium Moly), the Cloth of Gold Crocus (C. Susianus), the Byzantine Gladiolus (G. byzantinus), and others in the 17th century. The beginning of the 18th century saw the introduction to our gardens of the Belladonna Lily (Amaryllis Belladonna), and later on the Babianas, Ixias, and other Gladioli like blandus, cuspidatus, and cardinalis.
It is to the 19th century, however, that we owe not only many introductions of new kinds, but also the development of the great enterprise that has been shown in their extensive cultivation, and the natural methods of using them in the garden.
To this period, and especially to the latter half of it, belong most of our fine Lilies, Bulbous Irises, Mariposa Lilies and Star Tulips, Brodiæas, Chionodoxas, Scillas, and American Dog's Tooth Violets. It has also been the age when the florist's varieties of Gladiolus, Daffodils, Tulips, Hyacinths, and Crocuses have been brought almost, if not quite, to the acme of perfection by intelligent cultivation and careful selection.
All this has led to the growth of many kinds of bulbous plants having become a huge industry. Dutch bulbs have for many generations been famous, and many kinds will, no doubt, continue to retain their hold upon the public owing to the undoubted advantage of the climate under which they are grown. But experience has proved that such bulbous plants as Tulips and Daffodils at least can be grown equally well in some parts of the British Islands, notably in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, the Scilly Isles, and parts of Ireland. It has been stated that over five hundred millions of bulbs are used for decorative purposes in Great Britain alone every year, and that the value of imported bulbs ranges from £5,000,000 to £8,000,000 annually.
The growth of Daffodils and Narcissi alone in the Scilly Isles within the past forty years has been nothing less than phenomenal. Mr. T. A. Dorrien-Smith, of Tresco Abbey, has stated that the first lot of flowers was sent to Covent Garden Market about 1865, and realised £1. It was not, however, until about 1880 that Daffodil growing in these Islands became at all remunerative, and some idea of their growth since then may be gained from the fact (vouched for by the same authority) that 65 tons of flowers were exported from the Scilly Isles in 1885, 85 tons in 1886, 100 tons in 1887, 188 tons in 1888, and 198 tons in 1889; and on one day alone—the 25th February, 1896—30-½ tons of Narcissi, comprising 3,258,000 blooms in 4,849 boxes, were shipped to Penzance for market. Cultivation on such an extensive scale, of course, means a considerable reduction in price, and, from a commercial point of view, ordinary Daffodil growing may be said to have reached bedrock prices a long time ago.
However, of late years, our American cousins have taken a keen interest in the importation of bulbs from Europe, and as gardening is a comparatively new industry in that extensive country, we may expect that it will afford a good market for many years to come. Not many years ago certain kinds of Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, &c., were a drug in the English markets, and could be had at a very low price. Since, however, the Americans have become fond of bulb-growing, these particular kinds have advanced considerably in price, in some cases 100 to 150 per cent., because it so happened they were just the sorts that were liked on the other side of the Atlantic.