294 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 3,1BS9-. 
during the winter, when they get under the reeds and snow, and cannot 
be seen. 
We must hasten on, for we want to see the patch of “Emperor” 
Daffodil with 10,000 bulbs all in bloom. What a sight it is when we 
reach it; surely anyone would go Daffodil-crazy here ! I feel touched 
a little myself. On the next square are nearly as many “ Empress,” 
and our old friend “ Horsefieldi ” by thousands close by. Those who 
only see these beautiful plants grown singly can have little idea of the 
efEect produced by these huge masses with their luxuriant foliage. 
Leaving here, we go down to some fresh land planted with Hyacinths — 
somehow they look brighter than ever they do with us ; that is because 
we do not plant them thickly enough to get the true effect. Here they 
plant the beds according to the size of the bulbs, beginning with the 
largest, which are set about 6 inches apart each way, and graduating 
them down to the smallest of the same age which stand thicker ; not 
very artistic, you will say, but it gives a grani effect of colour en masse. 
The one and two-year bulbs are seldom planted near the older ones, as 
the growers don’t like “ to have all the eggs in one basket,” in case of 
spring frost, &c., added to which a change of land is beneficial, so that 
most of the best growers have farms at a distance where they grow the 
young bulbs for one or two years and then finish them on the very best 
land they have. Now we come to a bed of Hyacinths all one colour ; 
surely they are “ Robert Steiger 1 ” Yes, and just for curiosity we will 
count them. Thirty-nine beds 10 yards by 1 yard of large bu bs, and 
three beds of small ; 700 on the first bed, and more on the others ; not 
less than 50,000 of this one variety, and only one man’s stock. 
There is much more to be seen, but we are tired of looking, and 
before we leave we want to run down over the canal there and see the 
old lake of Haarlem which was drained during this century. The land 
is much lower on the other side of the canal, being 18 feet below the 
level of the sea, whereas the general run about here is 8 feet below sea 
level. Looking down from the canal bridge we seem to be on the edge 
of a basin of which the canal forms the rim all the way round. Tbis 
basin, which is the old lake bottom, is perhaps twelve miles across ; the 
land is strong, and is used mostly for corn growing. Crossing about the 
centre is a large canal, and into this the water is lifted by wind-power 
pumps from the ditches, from thence into the outer canal, and finally 
into the river, whence it goes into the sea at low tide, and is pumped 
out when the tide is too high. A similar system prevails all over this 
part of the country. Each wind-power pump has a man in charge, to 
whom is entrusted the drainage of about 100 acres of land, and by his 
house is a marked guage showing the level at which the water is to be 
kept according to the season. Coming back, our friend tells us much 
respecting this wonderful drainage, of how when they get short of water, 
in the summer the sluices are opened from the river, and the ditches 
filled with water from the old Rhine ; of how last winter during a 
stormy night the sea-bank threatened to give way, and the alarum bells 
rang all night in the town of Leyden, which is 8 feet below sea-level ; 
more about pile-driving, and the new railway station at Amsterdam, 
which is built on piles 120 feet long. But interesting as all this is, we 
must say adieu and hurry on, or we shall never reach the Tulips we want 
to see. True we have seen plenty of Tulips already to-day, but we are 
going now to the home of the Tulip. 
We mount once more into the steam tram, and whilst it takes us to 
our destination (perhaps, by the way, it does not go there direct, but no 
matter - ) we will just make notes on what we have seen. The first thing 
that strikes an observer, after a careful inspection of a Hyacinth field, 
is the number of varieties which are second rate and inferior to others 
growing around them If the observer has an inquiring mind he will ask as 
I did on my first visit to Holland, “ Why do you grow this and that when 
others are so much better ? ” The answer came, “ Were they not in your 
catalogue last year? Just so, and there are numbers of people who 
year by year order varieties which are long out of date, and superseded 
by newer ones ; the only other reason they are grown is that they are 
cheap.” Having then marked the second-rate names off, we make notes 
of the good stocks we have seen, as we have done at other places, not 
forgetting those Queen of the Blues measured yesterday in the fields, 
with spikes 8 inches long. Time was when the few men who exported 
bulbs grew each their own speciality, and purchased the specialties of 
others. There are so many exporters that they are jealous of each other, 
and each man tries to grow and sell everything. The Hyacinth man 
grows Tulips, and the Tulip man tries to grow Hyacinths ; so if you wish 
to have really the best of everything you must buy largely, so as to make 
it worth while to get the best each man has. Some who come to England 
for orders have little ground of their own. They buy up what they 
want at the auctions, for thousands of people grow bulbs and sell them 
by auction who are not in the trade at all, just as Lincolnshire farmers 
grow Turnip seed. Where do all these little half-starved bulbs go to 
that we see in every cottage garden, in the railway porter’s garden 
alongside the line and elsewhere ? Probably, like the Potatoes, to 
England. Certain it is that with such a demand for Tulips as there 
was last season, when all the best growers were sold out almost 
before the season began (at fancy prices), they would never send their 
bulbs over for sale by auction, and yet there were plenty to be bought 
much under wholesale prices. Are all the Dutch growers who sell retail 
in England connected with the best houses here? Certainly not; a man 
like our friend we have just left would not accept a retail order ; he 
would not attempt to do both trades. Some who advertise as retail 
traders are much in the position of merchants. So far as what they 
grow themselves is consumed they have the advantage of saving an 
intermediate profit, but they cannot grow all they require, and if they 
attempt to do so they simply arrive at a very second-rate all-round 
produce. For what they want to buy they are very much worse off than 
the merchant, for the best growers prefer to supply their English cus¬ 
tomers who come regularly, rather than to trade with Dutch retailers. 
When you take into consideration the fact that the merchant saves very 
much by importing in large quantities instead of paying carriage on 
small retail lots, you can readily see how it is that he can, if he under¬ 
stands his business, compete on favourable terms with his Dutch rival. 
1 do not think our tram has had anything like time to reach its 
destination whilst we have been making our notes, but we must antici¬ 
pate, for time flies. As we look out of the window we see the country 
has changed during the last few miles (our tram runs about twelve 
miles an hour including stoppages, so we are getting over the ground). 
We have left the pleasant flat meadows which seem so full of cattle 
that one wonders where they eo for a change of pasture, and we now 
find the soil getting staffer and principally arable ; to speak correctly, 
it is principally under the spade, and really some of it seems as if there 
were enough men employed upon it to ruin anyone. Look at those 
seven men digging on that narrow strip for Potatoes, and women planting 
after them ; one would think their wages would purchase the crop, and 
if you look all around the land seems all over men. These towns we 
see here, which are only four or five miles apart, are almost wholly 
agricultural, but then, you see, there are no scattered houses as with us. 
Everyone lives in villages or small towns, and the men and women walk 
backwards and forwards to their work. In our own fen country it is 
much the same, and probably in a country which is at any time liable to- 
be inundated by the bursting of a bank, it is safer to live together than, 
scattered in odd houses. Looking out we see here a field of Strawberries 
and there a field of which you cannot guess the crop ! No, it is Roses ; 
they are grown in long lines of cut-down bushes, and the flowers are 
picked for Paris perfumers. 
Now look out of the window behind ; the sun is shining his best, 
and what a glare he shines upon—a crimson sea ! Yes, those are Scarlet 
Van Thols, and as nearly as I can guess there are three acres of them. 
A little further and our host meets us. Let us leave our overcoats, 
which have not been of much use to us to-day, and make a start. Of 
course, as this is the home of the Tulip, our host is very anxious to show 
us his Hyacinths. We have seen such numbers of Hyacinths that we 
do not care to see more, but we wander on, and see acres of Hyacinths 
old and young, and really the stock of one or two sorts is very fine, 
notably the Giganteas. After seeing the Hyacinths, we cross the road 
and come to some Narcissus, a very fine lot of Golden Spur, and some 
good beds of Horsefieldi. Then we come to some Tulips set out in pieces, 
of about half an acre each. What a sight 1 I never saw such Keizers 
Kroon ; they are immense. As you stand over them they are fully ex¬ 
panded, and the blooms hide the whole ground, not as you see them in 
some of our parks like plums in a sailor’s pudding, but set out 4 inches 
apart every way. Then we see acres of La Reine, principally grown for 
the London and Berlin market growers. By the way the Scarlet Van 
Thols we saw as we were coming were evidently part of a farmer’s 
property. What becomes of them all ? Oui host tells us that one 
London market grower uses half a million annually of this one variety, 
and it is not at all uncommon to have an order for £200 or £300 worth 
of Tulips from one grower. These market orders are very useful, for 
they take the rough bulbs that the merchant would refuse. They bloom, 
as well as the others, but are not so clean and pretty for retail work. 
Of course the market grower has them cheaper, and now I understand 
what I never did before—viz., how it was possible to bloom bulbs for 
sale at a profit. The ill-shaped Hyacinth bulbs are mostly sold to- 
Germany for the same purpose. The Germans are very fond of forced 
Hyacinths, and they do very well for the immense cart-wheel bouquets 
they make up. In our English markets there is little demand for them. 
We walk on. Another acre, this time brilliant with yellow Chrysolora, 
then a piece of that lovely silky carmine Proserpine, which one can- 
distinguish as far as one can see it; then pieces of Van der Neer, 
Cardinal’s Hat, Yellow Prince, Duchesse de Parma, Joost von Vondel,’ 
various Van Thols, Pottebakkers, and others too numerous to mention.. 
The doubles are hardly out, but if I should see another year I intend to' 
come a week later, and have a full Tulip treat. Meanwhile, in passing 
we must stop at tbis bed with variegated foliage. They are really 
beautiful, quite as handsome as variegated Y'uccas. What a talk they 
would make in Nottingham arboretum just as they are here. This 
variety is rather expensive yet, but the variegated Purple Crown is an 
excellent variety and cheap. Some of the variegated sorts are not much, 
good. Strangely enough some do not produce flowers when the leaves 
are variegated, and as soon as they bloom the foliage assumes its normal 
hue. 
Leaving the Tulips, we come to a fence of wire netting and a shelter 
hedge made of reed. Behind the latter we find beds of Lilium lanci- 
folium album and roseum. The wire is to keep the hares from the 
Crocus, of which we find an acre or so of Mont Blanc (the finest off 
whites), and others in smaller plots. A short walk takes us to another 
nursery, where we find a number of Polyanthus Narcissus just coming 
into bloom. Wbat a grand lot of Bazelman major ! How strong ancf 
what blooms ! This variety, which is undoubtedly the finest grown, is- 
unfortunately bad to propagate, and the stocks are small and very 
scarce. Does it strike you that the foliage is scorched and sickly ? That 
is the effects of the frost, and one but rarely sees the beds in Holland 
when the leaves have not been caught by spring frost. The blooms are 
often lovely, but they seem to be too happy compared with them 
I blighted leaves. I feel sure from this that one need not try to grow the 
