74 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



fields of Holland ; now they are, and they make 

 very gorgeous patches of colour in the middle and 

 late summer, when there are few other flowers to 

 be seen. The treatment they require is unlike 

 that of the Dutch bulb proper. To begin with, 

 they are tubers not bulbs ; to go on with, they are 

 not planted out till May ; and to conclude, they 

 must be stored in dry and frost -proof houses 

 during the winter months. New varieties are 

 raised from seed, and in Holland time and atten- 

 tion is being bestowed on them, so that it is pos- 

 sible they, too, may rank among important Dutch 

 flowers, though at present they can hardly be said 

 to do so, popular as they are in this country. 



But perhaps of all bulbs grown in Holland the 

 ones which have least felt the variation of favour 

 for the past three hundred years are Narcissi. 

 Doubtless they have not always been grown in 

 quite such quantity as they are now, but they have 

 for very long been grown to a considerable extent. 

 They have never had the immense vogue that tulips 

 and hyacinths had at one time, but they have 

 always been well appreciated. It is true that in 

 Holland to-day amateurs, though they think well 

 of them, do not as a rule specialise in them, as do 

 many English ; one has to go to England to find 



