Ill 



THE HYACINTH TRADE 



From De Koning's Ta/ereel der Stad Httarlem (1808) 



De Koning gives us an account of the hyacinth trade which 

 began in 1780, and which continues to the present day. It 

 was not so astonishing as the tulip trade, and though the 

 price of the hyacinth did not rise as high as that of tulips, 

 yet fancy prices were paid for some : — 



Passe non plus ultra fetched . , 1850 florins 

 Gloria Mundi eenjong „ 650 „ 



Tempel Salomons „ 450 „ 



Praal Sieraad „ . 400 „ 



From these figures one can see that the price of a favourite 

 hyacinth could not be compared to the price paid for a tulip 

 bulb, but to this day hyacinth culture is a trade by which 

 people can really live profitably (this was 1808). Not only 

 at Amsterdam, where there are many fields of hyacinths, but 

 in many other Dutch towns, whence the bulbs are sent to all 

 countries. In Haarlem many of the bulb growers living 

 outside the Groot and Kleine Hout Poort had to send away 

 such quantities to foreign countries that the spaces near 

 their houses became too small to plant them out, so they 

 were forced to rent more ground to make new flower-fields, 



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