SUGGESTIONS AND INVITATION 



are in demand solely because of their low price, without 

 regard to quality. Many of the varieties I offer are my exclu- 

 sive introductions, and will not be found in other American or 

 foreign catalogues. This fortunate advantage is the pleasant 

 result of the intimate connections I have made with my Hol- 

 land growers, who understand that I am always ready to make 

 use of any fine variety, whether it happens to be old or new. 

 An additional advantage my list possesses is that, as I import 

 my bulbs only to order and carry no large stocks, I am able to 

 offer a far wider range of varieties than if I had to assume the 

 risk of bulbs remaining unsold at the end of the season. 



The descriptions of varieties in The Blue Book will be 

 found unusually elaborate in their detail; in every case they 

 have been taken from flowers actually grown in my trials, 

 except where it is stated that I give the grower's descriptions. 

 As the subject-matter and the descriptions contained in my 

 Blue Book have been used in other catalogues, attention is 

 called to the fact that the contents are protected by copyright, 

 and that the use of any part of the same constitutes an in- 

 fringement thereof. 



Tbe News from Holland 



Perhaps the greatest surprise of the situation in the Holland 

 bulb-markets, during the years the war has lasted, has been 

 the fact that, in spite of the many markets closed to the grow- 

 ers for one reason or another, they have been able to dispose 

 each season of their salable bulbs in practically all of their 

 varieties. The demand in America has very largely increased, 

 while in several of the countries involved in the war there has 

 been a steady sale for flowers to be sent to the hospitals, as 

 well as for other uses, which at one time seemed likely to be 

 cut off entirely. 



A peculiar feature of the situation this year is that the 

 bulbs propagated in the first year of the war are now coming 

 to maturity. In the fall of 1914, owing to the scarcity of labor 

 and the uncertainty of future markets, almost all the growers 

 decreased the quantities planted for propagating purposes. 

 Since the bulbs from earlier propagations were in many varie- 



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