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TJie CciLiitry G cntlanaiC s Magazine. 



HOW THEY GROW BULBS IN HOLLAND. 



HOLLiVND, as all know, is exceedingly 

 flat, with no natural drainage, and 

 the water is pumped out of the country and 

 into the sea by windmills. The sea is pre- 

 vented overflowing the low countries by 

 dykes or banks of earth. The water seems 

 to stand generally within i8 inches of the 

 surface, though in winter it is allowed to 

 overflow the land. The fields are divided by 

 ditches of water, and it seemed to me very 

 strange that cattle were kept within desired 

 bounds by such a narrow channel. Little 

 portable bridges furnish the necessary gates, 

 or means of passing from one field to the 

 other. Most of the carting is done by boats, 

 and it is no strange thing, as you look across 

 the fields among the hay-makers, to see a sail 

 apparently springing up from the mown grass, 

 but really attached to a boat in some broad 

 channel or ditch. 



The soil is a black, peaty muck, somewhat 

 freely supplied with sand. There are a few 



Fig. I. — Bulb with cuts across the base. 



low hills, having very much the appearance 

 of sand bars, composed almost entirely of 

 clean sea sand and shells. 



The favourite place for growing Hyacinths, 

 Tulips, Crocuses, and the bulbs known as 

 Holland Bulbs, is in Haarlem and its neigh- 

 bourhood. Hyacinth growing, I judge, is the 



greatest and most profitable culture ; it cer- 

 tainly requires the most care and skill. An 

 acre of ground, three or more miles out of 

 Haarlem, suitable for Hyacinth culture, I 

 learned was worth nearly ^200. Its pre- 

 paration is a very costly operation. It 

 must not be too high and dry, and yet 

 it must be so high as never to be overflowed 

 in winter. As all the meadows, and pretty 

 much all the land, is flooded in winter, it is 

 no small job to take an acre of this meadow 

 land and raise it a foot or 1 8 inches above 

 high water mark. It seemed to be prepared 

 a little at a time, as leisure for this work per- 

 mitted, though it must be done in the dry 

 weather of summer. An acre or so is 

 selected for the purpose, and its width staked 

 out. Then trenching commences, and the 

 trenching carried down to low-water mark. 

 As this proceeds, sand from some of the 

 Down hills and immense quantities of cow 

 manure are mixed with the mucky soil. Of 

 course, when the work is finished, there is a 

 deep ditch at its termination, which serves as 

 a fence. 



If the piece of ground is somewhat isolated 

 from the other bulb ground, there may be a 

 ditch made on two or three sides, and of 

 course the soil from these helps to raise the 

 surface. The first year Potatoes are planted 

 on this ground, and they grow of wonderful 

 size, with haulms yards in length. They are, 

 of course, worthless for eating, and are either 

 sold to the Government to feed the poor 

 soldiers or to feed the cattle. The bulb 

 soil is manured with cow manure every other 

 year, and the manuring is always followed by 

 Potatoes, so that a crop of bulbs is grown 

 only every alternate year. Fresh manure 

 will ruin the bulbs. Three classes of soil are 

 prepared, and for different purposes. It 

 takes at least three years for a young bulb to 

 become of flowering or saleable size, and each 

 year a different soil is required, so the ground 



