90 



PRACTICAL PLANT PROPAGATION 



under the influence of the sun and rain the leaves, and later 

 flowers, appear. 



"Generally the first Sunday in April, if the weather has been fine, 

 or the second if it has not, finds the fields in bloom. Then it would 

 be hard to find a more beautiful place on earth than the thirty-mile 

 stretch from Haarlem to Leiden. The natives are not less appre- 

 ciative of the attraction than the stranger. On this Sunday the 

 highway from Hillegom to Leiden is one mass of people on foot, on 

 bicycles, in motors, carriages and trams. The great concern of the 

 people to see the annual flower show is better understood when we 

 know that this one day is probably the only chance they have to 

 visit it. The flowers are not more attractive to the people than to 

 the grower, but the latter's love of beauty must yield to his business 

 interests, so the flowers are cut off to allow the additional nourish- 

 ment thus gained to go to the bulb. The clipping usually takes 

 place ten days after the flowers appear. 



"The bulbs now 

 begin to enlarge and 

 are left to grow dur- 

 ing April and May. 

 About the middle of 

 May, with fair warm 

 weather, the leaves 

 turn yellow, a sign 

 that the bulb is ma- 

 tured and can be 

 taken out. Wet, cold, 

 weather at this time 

 of the year retards 

 the ripening process, 

 forcing the harvest 

 into June. 



"In the event of a 

 protracted spell of 

 wet and cold, some 

 method of hastening 

 the bulbs to maturity 

 must be resorted to. 

 One recently adopted 



is to remove the bulbs from the ground before they have reached 

 the proper stage and keep them in a warehouse at the temperature 

 of fine Summer weather. Forced in this manner they mature at 

 the proper time and make it possible to meet the demands of those 



Fig. 35. A scooped Hyacinth bulb. Compare the 

 great number of small bulbels produced by this 

 method with those produced by notching (See page 87) 



