28 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbruauy 1. 1917. 



BULB GROWING IN HOLLAND. 



[This is till' st'coMiI inslnllnu'iit of a imnor 

 ri>ail at a iMMciit iiirctiii;; of the C'lcvclaiiil Flo- 

 rists' Cliili, ill I'li'vclaml, O., by John Van Lccu- 

 wcn. (if Sassi'iihfiiii, llollaiiil. In drscribiii}; tlui 

 iricthoils of bulti tiiltiuo iisi'tl in lliillaiul, Mr. 

 Van I.couwcn (.•oiitiiii'il his remarks to throf 

 groups of iilaiits, hyarinths, tulips and narcissi. 

 The lirst section of liis p:ipcr hail reference tc 

 liyacihths and was piibli^lied in The Kcmcvv of 

 .lainiary LTi. The present section treats of t\i- 

 lijis. 'J'lio remainder of tlie jiaper. with narcis-.i 

 as tlio siitiject, will appear in a later issue of 

 The lleview.] 



Till' (liU'eroiit species <>i' lulijis iwo 

 I'oiiiiil ^villl .nliiiior ^j,^. mirtluMii sliores nt' 

 llie Mt'.litcrraiioaii, in .\riiiriii;i, tlir 

 J.evaiit, tlie ('aiR-asiis ilistrict. l'(>rsia, 

 and sjidradically across iidrtli and cen- 

 tral Asia as I'ar as Jaiian. 



The oM J)iic' van Tliol vaiiotios Mie 

 derived from Tulipri sua\'eolens. a na- 

 tive of thi> Caspian roi^ion, wliiie the 

 other kinds are mostly scedliiius of 

 Tulipa Gcsncriana, Avhicli was intro- 

 duced from tlie Levant in 1.377 and two 

 years later was broni,dit from Constan- 

 tinoplo to Auijjsburjj by Conrad Gesner. 



'J'he name ''tuliji" was jiroliably t;ik- 

 en fnim the Turlii-h word " t nlbe-.'d, ' " 

 a turban, with reiViciice to the shape 

 of the llower. 



An Ancient Craze for Tulips. 



It was not lone; before tnlips beeainc 

 e.\i'eedinj,Hy jiopuiar — so inneli so that 

 in the early jiart of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury a regular craze broke out in Hol- 

 land. In Haarlem one can still find a 

 stone on wlii( Ii is inscribed simjily the 

 date, ]G.i7. This stone was kejit as a 

 icmembrancc of the famous tulip tra<le 

 of the year ](i;i7, '"when, one fool 

 hatched I'luiii another, the jieople were 

 rich withofit substance and wise with- 

 out knowledeje. ' ' 



Wild t.ales are abundant about what 

 was paid for one tulip. For ;i sinprlc 

 bulb twelve acres of land in the 

 Schermcr polder were ofi'eNMl. C)ne v;i- 

 riety, Senijier Auj,nistus. iiiu>t have been 

 the rarest and nm-t e<i>tly of all, as the 

 fabulous price of .^."..">0U is said to have 

 been once ],aid for it. and .'oon after- 

 ward three of these I.iulbs were ;i;,rain 

 sold for .'^12.0(10. 



The ]irice of land and tho rent of 

 fields in which to ^;iow the bulbs bo- 

 came extremely hioh. One c;entlem:in 

 was offered ,420,000 a year for his lield 

 for seven years and In addition a share 

 of the jirofits. 



Speculation and Extravagance. 



Th(^ ra^e de\i'lo]ied to smdi .a staple 

 that nearly e\civ inn mid tavern 

 around Haailein was turned into a bulb 

 excjianm', where bulbs \vere lioii<jjht and 

 sold liiii^ befipic tliev were taken from 

 the fjround. In cai h of these places a 

 bookkeeper was employed, who kept a 

 record of every transaction and of the 

 profits made, which in mo>t oases 

 seemed extraordinarily hi^'h. 



Many ineUj unuseil to such wealth, be- 



came exceedingly extravagant, spending 

 money lavishly and beyond their in- 

 comes, buying carnages and horses rind 

 living at such a rate as only possessors 

 of untold wealth could afford. 



What many a wise man had foreseen, 

 at last happened. Everyone having be- 

 come a bulb grower, so many tulips 

 were crowded intt) the market that 

 prices suddenly dropped. A great many 

 liuyers refused to take the bulbs at the 

 piicc agreed ujion, and a gt>od many 

 disjuites and tpiarrels ..arose. Finally 

 ilie St.ates General of Holland issued a 

 deci'ce that, beginning Ajiril 27, 1G3G, 



Exclusive Novelties in Flora! Valentines 



^ \f other 

 For Wife 



' Suclhcjrl 



CoisaRC Bouquets "_ $ "^ 01 ;■_ $ | 



ol OicHkI". •• " Vlolf,». " ' 



SPTCUL HJJ) HUUIT BA.^KJ.1S * n,(i«tjt A.Nt) 'AM'> 



ChKOgo^ Lcadi:if! Florlit 



J AC KSO N AND MICHIGAN BOLL.EVARDS ' 

 Furbelows in Flower Ads. 



tulip Sidlers li.ad the right to force 1 liv- 

 ers to accept the bulbs at the jirices 

 ••i^rectl n]ion. The decree stoppeil the 

 speculation to such an extent that a 

 .Scinjier Augustus, for instance, for 

 which previously several thousand dol- 

 lars had been paid, now brought only 

 .$20. Many peopile were ruined. 



Modern Tulip Fields. 



F\(n thouixh the craze ruined num- 



bers of people, many kept on growing 

 them, and today one can see miles anu 

 miles of tulips in bloom when traveling 

 through our district in April and May. 



Tulips do not absolutely require the 

 same soil which we use for hyacinths. 

 "We grow tulips in clay and even in peat 

 soil. It must be said, though, that tu- 

 lips grown in san<l will produce the 

 best results in general. 



When grown in sand the tulips are 

 jdanted in the same place from which 

 the h>acin1hs were taken earlier in the 

 season. The ground is manured with 

 about two bushels of cow manure to 

 the square rod. Of course a good deal 

 of the tnanure which was used for tlu- 

 hyacinths is still in the soil. The bulbs, 

 are planted in the same way as the hya- 

 cinths. The beds are covered with a 

 light layer of new, long reeds. This is 

 not done to protect them from frost, as 

 tulips do not suffer from frost, but to 

 shield them from the winds in the 

 spring. 



Harvesting and Marketing. 



AVhen the bullis ate rijie they ;ire dug 

 and taken to the bidb houses, where 

 they arc spread out thinly on tht~ 

 shelves. They get plenty of air, so as 

 to dry them quickly, while care is taken 

 that the sun does not shine on them, 

 because then the skin bursts. Tulips 

 ])ropagat(; themselves, and the old 

 mother bulb sjtlits into two to five 

 smaller bulbs, leaving only ;i lot of old, 

 dry skin. 



As soon as the bulbs are dry we hire 

 a lot of women and girls to (dean them. 

 When this is done the bulbs aie rui; 

 thiough a sorting machin(\ wlii(di sort=^ 

 them in about ten different sizes. The 

 selling siz(? is then put on a tabh:" and 

 jii(d<ed ()\er by hand. The btilbs are. 

 at't(M- that, counted into bags of 2*10 and 

 500, according to the \"ariety. The 

 bags are put on shelves and left tli(M'o 

 until we pack them in cases to be 

 shi[i[ied abroail. 



Present Popularity of Tulips. 



There is no disease in tulips, am! of 

 all the bulbs we grow the\" are pr(d)alJy 

 the e;;siest of culture. They are much 

 more po|>ulai' than hyacinths, pidbabl>' 

 on ttccount of the fact that they have 

 sui h a lonix blooming' season and car. 

 therefore be put to so many more uses. 



Among the great acquisitieiis are the 

 Darwins, of which no one l;no\vs the 

 origin, and lately the Vjreoilers hav(^ 

 (>oine to the front again. They are 

 nothing ne\v. Th(\v are the unl)roken 

 forms of the old fhjrists' tulip, ;ind the 

 (dd Dutch gardeners discarded them be- 

 cause a tulip had no value for them 

 unless the flower was either striped or 

 feathered. Here and there in old, for- 

 gotten corners, breeders are found and 

 greedily taken up by the present grow- 

 ers. They arc truly magnificent flowers. 



