THE BULB GARDENS OF HOLLAND. 103 



In addition to the large magazines used for storing marketable 

 bulbs, there are others for the small ones. These are usually 

 erected far apart near the corners of the garden. This is to save 

 labor, as after these young bulbs are lifted they can be stored 

 near b}', and near where they will be planted annually', till they 

 attain full growth, when they will be conveyed to the large maga- 

 zines to be shipped away. 



We shall now endeavor to describe somewhat minutely the 

 manner in which one or two of the leading species are propagated 

 and cultivated. We select the hyacinth as being particularly 

 interesting, and also on account of its great value as a decorative 

 plant at a season when other flowers are not over plentiful. 



In Holland this flower is grown entirely in sand as fine as meal. 

 Old decomposed cow manure in liberal quantity is placed under- 

 neath or mixed with the soil before the bulbs are set out. The 

 extent of land devoted to this bulb around Haarlem is from two 

 hundred to three hundred acres. 



The peculiarities of the soil and climate of Holland are more 

 favorable to their production than any other section. The original 

 of the Dutch hyacinth, Hyacintlms orientalis, is a very insignificant 

 plant, bearing on a spike a few small, narrow-lobed, pale blue, 

 single flowers. From this small beginning, as cultivated more 

 than three hundred years ago, we have, today, over five hundred 

 varieties of nearly every color, many of them charmingl}^ beauti- 

 ful and nearly all of easy cultivation. We have a record of the 

 existence of six single varieties in the year 1597. Towards the 

 close of the seventeenth century, double flowering sorts began to 

 appear and for many j-ears the double form was most esteemed. 

 In 1754, an English writer described upwards of fifty single 

 flowered varieties and ninety double. At that date favorite sorts 

 were sold at extravagant prices. One white variety, La Reine des 

 Femmes, sold for fifty guilders a bulb on its first appearance. A 

 double blue, Overwinuer, then cost one hundred guilders a bulb, 

 while another, Gloria Mundi, cost five hundred guilders, equal to 

 $200 of our money ; but, as values were at that time, much more 

 relatively. These prices are taken from a Dutch grower's cata- 

 logue of 1754 and are not figures from fancy. In 1755, we have 

 the first record of their being grown in glasses. 



Of late years, single flowered sorts have been most popular, 

 and few will question the justice of the preference, 



