BULB BARNS, NAMES, AND GROWERS 111 



are in such a small way ; some of them are sub- 

 stantial well-to-do men cultivating quite a con- 

 siderable quantity of land. Certain of them grow 

 almost exclusively for one or another special 

 exporter, so that they seem to the uninitiated to be 

 his men, though in reality they are not at all. It 

 is these men who may sometimes be seen during 

 the bulb season in the exporter's office, or sitting 

 with him in the veranda of his house, talking of 

 the weather and the condition of trade over a glass 

 of schiedam and a Dutch cigar, in the old-fashioned 

 leisurely way that still maintains in parts of 

 Holland. Cheery, comfortable folk these, speak- 

 ing neither English, French, nor German ; Dutch 

 of the Dutch, and not easily to be known by the 

 foreigner. 



In the ordinary bulb barns there are two things 

 to be guarded against, mice and fire. Against the 

 latter there is insurance, and one would think there 

 should not be much danger of it in those barns 

 where there is a rule forbidding the workmen to 

 smoke while within. There are some barns, how- 

 ever, where there is no such rule ; where the master 

 feels that justice demands he should allow his men 

 the liberty which he, with the true Dutch love of 

 tobacco, cannot do without himself. There is one 



