98 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the large canals. When completely equipped with machinery 

 they are quite costly erections. Standing on the road we counted 

 twenty-five in sight at one time. Farming is the chief occupa- 

 tion of the country people, and grass the principal crop raised. 

 The implements and tools in use are very clumsy and heavy, and 

 as we see the farmers at work moving leisurely about in their 

 great wooden clogs or shoes we wonder how they can keep their 

 farms in such excellent condition as is almost uniformly seen. 



The district in which bulb growing for market is carried on is 

 of comparatively small area. The ancient town of Haarlem is its 

 centre. It is a very quiet, old place with many old buildings of 

 quaint architecture. Man}- of the bulb merchants have business 

 offices in Haarlem, but the grounds where most of the bulbs are 

 grown are several miles out of the town proper. One class of 

 merchants own very extensive and valuable gardens, and them- 

 selves grow nearly all the bulbs they offer for sale in their cata- 

 logues, or make contracts with raisers for them. We find also in 

 Haarlem another class of dealers who issue catalogues, but who 

 grow few or none of the bulbs they offer for sale, and who own 

 no gardens. These latter pick up their bulbs where they can get 

 them cheapest ; sometimes at public sales ; at other times of the 

 country farmers who make a business of raising them. Large 

 quantities of their bulbs annually reach this counti'y, as the price 

 lists are well gotten up and circulated widel}' among dealers. 

 They solicit early orders and are thus in a position to secure most 

 of the bulbs they want. Public auctions take place on the grounds 

 of the growers at the blooming season, the bulbs being delivered 

 when matured. Other sales are held at the time of lifting and 

 cleaning. Bulbs can be purchased of this class of dealers at a low 

 price, and often give as good satisfaction as those purchased from 

 firms who are growers, but they are not to be relied upon. Even 

 by a visit to Haarlem, and a direct personal trade with the dealers, 

 one is not always sure of getting the bulbs he is shown, unless he 

 knows the grower to be reliable. We know one gentleman who, 

 visiting Holland at the season of flowering, was invited b}^ a 

 Haarlem dealer to ride out and see his tulips in bloom. He went 

 and was delighted. The flowers were all that could be desired in 

 purity and health. A day or two afterwards he was having a 

 conversation on bulb business with another dealer who invited 

 him to visit his bulb gardens a short distance out of town. 



