The first tulip in Europe was seen in Augsburg, in
Germany, in 1559, and was imported from Constantinople -Turkey, where it
had long been a favorite. Ten or eleven years after this the plant was
in great demand in Holland and Germany. Wealthy burghers of Amsterdam sent
direct to Constantinople for their precious bulbs, and paid extravagant
prices for them. The first roots planted in England were brought from
Vienna in the year 1600, and were considered a great rarity. For thirty
years tulips continued to grow in reputation. One would suppose there must
have been some virtue in this flower that made it so valuable in the eyes
of so prudent a people as the Dutch. Yet it has neither the beauty or the
perfume of the violet nor the fragrance of the rose. It hardly possesses
the beauty of the humble sweet-pea. Its only recommendation is its
aristocratic stateliness, and this should hardly have commended it to the
only democratic republic on the globe. But it is by no means the first
time that fashion has turned ugliness into beauty and rarity in wealth.
In 1634 the rage for tulips among the Dutch
was so great that the ordinary industry of the country was neglected,
and the whole people turned to the production of tulips. As this mania
increased, prices increased with it, until in 1635 merchants were known to
have spent $40,000 in the purchase of forty tulips. At this time each
species was sold by weight. A tulip of the kind known as the
Admiral Lietkin, and weighing 400 grains, would sell for $1,800; the
Admiral Von der Eycke, weighing 450 grains was worth $500; a
Viceroy of 400 grains would bring $1200. Most precious of all, a
Semper Augustus, weighing only 200 grains, was thought to be cheap at
$2200. This last species was much sought after, and even an inferior plant
would readily sell for $800. When this species was first known, in 1636,
there were only two roots of it in Holland, and those not of the best. One
belonged to a dealer in Amsterdam, and the other was owned in Haarlem.
So anxious were the purchasers for this new variety that
one person offered twelve acres of valuable building land for the
Haarlem tulip. That of Amsterdam was sold for $1840, a new carriage,
two gray horses, and a complete suit of harness. As a specimen of the
value of these bulbs we give the actual copy of a bill of sale of certain
articles given in exchange for one single root of the Viceroy species.
Since that day tulips have declined in value, but wine, butter, and cheese
have decidedly advanced.
Two lasts of wheat |
$ 179 |
Two lasts of rye |
$ 223 |
Four far oxen |
$ 192 |
Eight fat swine |
$ 96 |
Twelve fat sheep |
$ 49 |
Two hogsheads wine |
$ 28 |
Four tuns beer |
$ 12 |
Two tuns butter |
$ 77 |
One thousand pounds cheese |
$ 48 |
One bed, complete |
$ 40 |
One suit clothes |
$ 32 |
One silver cup |
$ 24 |
|
$ 1000 |
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