20 



It was mainly due to the clear foresight of Mr. Arnold Burgers, 

 oldest member of the present firmofBarenbrug, Burgers& Co., 

 of A r n h e m , who till then had been acting for one of the foreign 

 houses as one of the several agents in Holland, to buy the rough 

 material from the various collectors, and who, some forty years 

 ago, took the initiative to concentrate the whole, or nearly the 

 whole of the production of Holland into one hand; put up ware- 

 houses and mechanical installations for the thrashing and cleaning 

 of the rough material and find a direct sale to the several seed- 



Arnhem. — Dam and St. Walburgis' Church. 



firms scattered all over the world, that the Natural Grass-seed 

 e.xport-trade was established in Holland-itself, and that, by doing 

 so, this trade was placed on a sounder basis, namely that of 

 bringing the consumer nearer to the producer and having the 

 seat of business established in the centre of production, with a 

 saving of expenses dependent on this more rational method of 

 business. 



That this was not so easy a task to be performed need scarcely 

 be said. Circumstances, however, helped a great deal to lighten 

 the work. First of all this, that the demand was only then beginning 

 to become a more lively-one year after year, so that the production 



