Tulip Festival

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Tracing the Tulip 'A Strange Forein Floure'

CAPE MAY - The city's Tulip Festival, begun four years ago, has grown like the colorful blooms which gave it the name. Starting with a Founder's Day program Sept. 26, 1981, on the Washington Street Mall, the observance has expanded to include yearly plantings of tulip bulbs throughout the city. THIS YEAR the festival will extend over an entire week, Saturday through May 4, with a variety of events planned for almost every day. Choice of the tulip as the symbol of the celebration honoring Cpt. Cornelius Mey, the Dutch explorer after which the area was named, was a natural one, in view of the close association of the flower with Holland. "TULIPA OR Dalmation Cup is a strange and forein floure"... and indeed was

when an Englishman wrote about it in 1597. AT THAT TIME the tulip had been known for some 10 years in England. As European — Far Eastern trade and diplomatic relations expanded, new varieties and colors continued to appear both in England and on the Continent. The flower, an immediate success, was soon to be found in all maner of gardens — small cottage plantings as well as elaborate formal displays. Writing in 1629, an English botanist describes the tulip: "...besides this glory of variety of colours they carry so stately and delightfull a forme and do abide so long in their bravery that there is no Lady or Gentlewoman of any worth that is not caught up with this delight." (That may be 1629 prose but somehow it sounds quite Victorian. THE ORIGINS of the tulip are shrouded in mystery. The first Recorded discriptions orvthe flower are found in 1556 livTurkey, where the flower grew prolifically. It is odd the early Greeks did not take note of this conspicuous plant, as severa species appear indigenous to that area. One art treasure, a black Minoan pottery jar, is decorated with silhouetted whitest tulips. Inasmuch as Minoan designates an advanced prehistoric culture that flourished on the Greek island of Crete in the eastern mediterranean from about 3000 to 1100 B.C., the jar suggests truly ancient origins for the tulip. THIS MINOAN artifact alone offers testimony that someone of long ago admired the flower sufficiently to use it on an art piece made with loving care. Why was such a handsome flower ignored for some 3000 years? Was it perhaps the dandelion of its day? IF THE tulip was a common plant in the Eastern world, one would expect to find exvidence of it in myths, legends, primitive magic and early medicine. Authorities have found nothing of this. The tulip does not even appear in early paintings; not until the middle of the 16th Century in Italian art nor any earlier in Persian art. IT WAS A Renaissance gentleman and scholar from Vienna who introduced the tulip to Europe. In the middle of the 16th Century, Emperor Ferdinand of the Holy Roman Empire dispatched one Ogier Ghislein de Busbecq as his ambassador to Constantinople (Turkey). While there, de Busbecq, apparently a most inquisitive man. was not only Much taken with the tulips he found in profuse bloom, but stumbled across a rare 5th Century Greek manuscript which contained plant drawings — including the tulip. He tried to purchase it, but found the cost too exhorbitant for his purse. However, he later persuaded the emperor to acquire it and this botanical treasure was placed in the

Imperial Library—of Vienna. BY 1556 de Busbecq had sent large quantities of tulip seeds and bulbs back to Europe, and they were immensely popular from the first. From its initial appearance the flower was considered "rare and exotic," as were most other articles from this part of the world. (Far Eastern imports of today are still treasured but perhaps not as enthusiastically as during the 16th and 17th Centuries.) Things rare and exotic are usually expensive; these first tulips were no exception. The Dutch interest was so intense that during the 17th Century a crisis developed in their economy which rivals the American Wall Street Market Crash of 1929. This Dutch financial hysteria is known historically as Tulipomania. AS A RESULT of their struggle to reclaim land from the ever encroaching seas, the Dutch had already become the best farmers and flower growers in Europe. As their foreign trade , And explorations continued to expand, the culture of the tulips quickly found its way into their economy. It was the speculation as to how many offsets an original bulb might produce that caused the monetary crisis. Individual prices rose to astronomical figures — a single buld could be worth $10,000. Until the beginning of 1634, the tulip trade had been in the hands of the professional growers. IT WAS A luxury trade and only the wealthy could afford to participate. However, it was soon noticed that the city merchants and others even less affluent were "getting into the market." For example, a nobleman might buy from a chimney sweep who actually had no bulbs The nobleman would then sell to a farmer who really didn't want bulbs, per se. but was planning to sell to someone else, and so on. Often payment was in kind and might consist of oxen, pigs, sheep, beer, wine, or grain. AT THE PEAK of this maniacal behavior, a

single Semper Augustus bulb sold for $50,000 with a pair of horses and a carriage thrown in! By the middle of 1635 prices had risen steeply, all sorts of people were involved, and frantic trading in futures was abroad in the land. By 1637 conditions were indeed ripe for a monetary collapse. PARADOXICALLY all of this was of great value to the professional growers. They profited immensely from the "advertising," as the story of Holland's tulipomania had spread throught the world. There was a mild revival during 1733-34 when some especially fine new varieties were discovered. The Dutch growers moved on to become the largest source of flowering bulbs in the world. They remain so today, and the tulip is no longer a "strange and forein floure." Its been in our Western gardens now for over 400 years. Surely this is abundant proof of its beauty and durability. What better symbol for Cape May's tribute — tru to its origins, dependable, hardy and universally "appreciated? background information in this article came form Jean. M. Timmons. author of a Cape May guide book. Sports 'N Stuff "SEE US, FOR ALL YOUR SPORTING GOODS, SNEAKERS, AND MUCH MORE! 1400 Texas Ave Cape May, N.J. across from C-View Inn 884-5844

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