156 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



the water meets with is the long journey it has to go to 

 reach to the summit of the dyke, which, at its level, is much 

 higher than the sea. 1 But besides this they covered miles of 

 the sea-shore with platted straw matting, which they plat on 

 the shore itself, — this is to prevent the sea from carrying the 

 sand away from its own shores. These mats have to be 

 renewed almost yearly. 



The sands of Haarlem are all more or less of this nature, 

 and contain saline and sulphurous particles of matter ; the 

 under stratum of peat or derry prevent these from being 

 absorbed into the ground. The sand also contains particles 

 which collect in some places and form a very thin stratum of 

 hard black matter, like that with which some minerals are 

 coated, and this is not less injurious to vegetation than is 

 the derry. 



The great success the Dutch growers have had in culti- 

 vating bulbs which cannot be successfully propagated 

 elsewhere is very much due to the presence of this sand, 

 deposited by the sea on a matter which, fortunately, water 

 cannot penetrate. 



To return to the three heaps, — sand, cow-manure, and leaf- 

 mould, — the sand is placed in large heaps to " ripen, 11 rather 

 perhaps to lose some of the moisture. The growers from 

 the three compose one general mass, which they arrange in 

 the following order : First, they make a layer of sand ; 

 second, of manure ; and third, of leaf-mould eight or ten 

 inches deep ; they then begin again making more layers in 

 the same order, until their mass is six to seven feet high. 

 The last layer is manure, but as this is apt to harden in the 

 sun, they throw a little sand on the top. When this compound 

 has fermented, six months, sometimes rather longer, it is 

 mixed up and another heap is made, which is, however, again 

 unmade and thoroughly remixed. When this soil has 

 1 Two hundred years ago. 



