Tulips are native to alpine regions, and their bulbs can generally withstand the low temperature of-14℃. /kloc-In the middle of the 5th century, Austrian diplomatic ambassador ogier Giseland de Bousbecq visited the Ottoman Empire and brought tulips back to Vienna. In Vienna, the ambassador gave the bulbs to Carolus Clusius of the Royal Botanical Garden, who brought the tulips to the Botanical Garden of Leiden University in the Netherlands on 1593. In the same year, Carolus successfully cultivated tulips in Leiden Botanical Garden to adapt to the Dutch planting environment, and cultivated new varieties of tulips. Carolus values the scientific research value of tulips and doesn't want to commercialize them, so he doesn't disclose the cultivation methods. However, interested businessmen smell business opportunities and think that this beautiful and rare emerging product will have a great market. They stole some tulip bulbs from the botanical garden and planted them themselves, making a splash in the market. At first, only some French ladies admired the uniqueness and rarity of tulips and were willing to decorate their clothes with freshly picked tulips. Or put it in your own garden to highlight your distinguished position.
For example, in this portrait of husband and wife 1609, the husband specially took a tulip bulb and a tulip to show that his family was rich. At that time, tulips were sold one by one, and those who could buy them in bundles like this were all rich people at that time.
In order to better present the beauty of tulips, the blue porcelain workshop in Delft area specially designed a pyramid-shaped porcelain with an opening. They usually have small holes with round protrusions so that tulips can be inserted and kept upright. The body of the porcelain bottle is decorated with the pattern of goddess or angel, and the architectural style of the western arcade cylinder is integrated into it, which is obviously different from the blue and white porcelain bottle in the East.
However, because tulips have just been imported to Europe, they have not been planted in a large area and have a long growth cycle, so the demand in the market is in short supply. Some rare varieties are unique, and scarcity has caused market looting. After 1634, the demand for tulips only increased. European speculators trade tulip futures in the tulip markets in Rotterdam and Leiden. Someone has been able to exchange three rare tulips for a building. 1636, 10 months later, not only the price of exotic varieties increased, but also the price of common tulips increased continuously. The tulip bulb named "Switzerland" rose by 485% in a month, while the most expensive "Augustus Forever" rose to 10000 guilders. At that time, the money was enough to buy a mansion and a carriage garden by the A Mu Canal. In the town of Horn, tulips were even used as money for three years.
The birth of these rare species stems from the infection of a virus called mosaic. Mosaic will not kill tulips, but make their petals produce some color stripes with obvious color contrast. Speculators follow the principle that things are rare and precious, and make great efforts to raise the prices of these exotic flowers and plants higher and higher.
This crazy history is presented in the painting, in which a large florist sits with a large number of bulbs and gold coins, and weighs the gold coins brought by the guests with a balance. Guests will hold tulips high to highlight the status of flowers.
However, the law of bubble economy is similar. Tulip bubble, as the initiator, witnessed a large number of speculators entering the market one after another regardless of the irrational price rise, and finally went bankrupt. The "greater fool theory" summarized by later economists is very suitable for speculators and ordinary people at this time. Everyone knows that the price of tulip bulbs has long been higher than their actual value, but they still believe that some people are more stupid than them and are willing to buy bulbs from them at a higher price. It's just that when no one can afford rare tulips, or the market can't cultivate new varieties in a short time, the turning point comes. At the beginning of 1937, speculators realized that the delivery time of tulip futures was up, and once the bulbs were buried, there was little possibility of resale. On February 4th, when the price of a pound of white Huang Guan was still dropped three times, the vendors in the bar panicked. When the news spread, businessmen lost confidence, the bubble burst and the tulip market collapsed. The roller coaster curve destroyed most Dutch families, years of savings were wiped out, and the government's rescue of the market did not help.
After the bubble burst, some satirical paintings appeared, such as Hendrik Gerritsz's A Fool's Journey. The man on the left of this picture represents the textile workers in Harlem. In the era of soaring tulip prices, everyone thinks tulips come quickly. Not only high-ranking officials and nobles, but also ordinary working people got on the ride of "getting rich". These textile workers gave up spindles and looms, followed them in the cars of Flora, drunkards, money changers and the double-faced goddess, and ran to the sea representing extinction. The wind with the smell of tulips is blowing, the wheels are rolling faster and faster, and the sea that devours everything is getting closer and closer.
George W. Jan Brueghel compared uncivilized monkeys to crazy human beings, satirizing that people lost their rationality in this crisis. In the painting, the flower shop monkey dressed in fashionable clothes is introducing tulips to dignitaries, and the golden monkey accountant ties a weight around his waist to calculate the price. The red monkey holds tulips and purses, and his face is full of joy, much like the trading scene where people just want to spend one flower before the bubble bursts.
Fortunately, the economic crisis only destroyed the tulip speculation market, but did not destroy the enthusiasm of flower farmers. In the landscape oil paintings of post-impressionist masters Monet and Van Gogh, we still see patches of flower fields, covering the earth with bright colors, warning people of past madness.
The scene in the painting is similar to the flower field in Holland now. It may be that the progress of machinery has made the planting area bigger and bigger, and the picking process has changed from manual picking to mechanized cutting flowers.
Tulips need to be cut for three reasons. One is to use the essence extracted from adult flowers as perfume, the other is to put fresh cut flowers in major flower markets, and the most important thing is to protect bulbs. The value of a tulip is its rhizome, which can reproduce asexually and grow a stable variety of tulip in the coming year.
Tulip bulbs are extremely cold-tolerant, and the growth temperature of roots should be above 5℃ and below 14℃, especially around 10℃. Therefore, the Netherlands with negative temperature in April is very suitable for tulip planting. Tulip bulbs need vernalization in winter to store enough nutrients so as to bloom smoothly in spring. Tourists who buy tulip bulbs may have climate problems if they can't grow them. Don't be angry, eat them like onions like the British.
Finally, in such a beautiful flower season, welcome everyone to the countryside to enjoy flowers in spring.
reference data
1. Dutch love for flowers-tulips, Wahid Saleh
2. National Museum: 1637- Tulip fever
3. Wikipedia: Tulip mania
4. Fool's carriage