May 8, 1890. ] 
JOUnXAL OF HOFxTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GARDEXER. 
887 
Jrag their sandy flats from the devouring sea. Itembrandt has enshrined on 
V canvas the stern faces of these heroes of the past, and if 
their names were effaced from the annals of their native land the brush 
of the mighty painter would suffice to keep their memory green in the 
hearts of their descendants. It is curious how ancient and modern 
Holland are brought into contact by the artist’s brush. In looking 
through the flowers at the great Exhibition at Haarlem a few weeks 
ago I discovered a favourite old Hyacinth not much grown in England, 
Kenau Hasselaar. An hour later I stood before a marvellous picture which 
^picted an assault on Haarlem by the Spaniards, and there was Kenau 
Hasselaar as she had been in the flesh, her face aglow with savage fire, 
leading her devoted followers on to the very edge of the battlements, 
hurling down the scaling ladders of the men-at-arms, wielding axe and 
halberd with frenzied strength, and pouring down boiling oil and tar 
upon the ascending foe. Wives and daughters fought side by side with 
husbands and fathers—the eye that aimed destruction upon the son was 
extinguished with horrible swiftness by a fiery flood hurled by the 
mothers hand. One forgets the peaceful pursuits of the present in 
gazing upon this wonderful presentment of the fierce struggles of the 
past—struggles that inaugurated the existing era of progress and plenty, 
and without which an intelligent and contented people would not now be 
cultivating the soil in order to provide flowers for the adornment of 
British homes. Under the demoralising rule of the Spaniards the sea 
■would have reclaimed its own, and the rich treasures of the fields would 
never have attained the development which now makes them of such 
■vast importance in the world of flowers. The painting is fascinating in 
its vivid realism. The quiet of the Exhibition Hall fades away before 
it. In place of the soft lines of colour with their pleasing foil of green, 
l«autiful in themselves and not less significant from the lesson that their 
silent voices teach of the happiness of peace and progress, rise the grim 
horrors of the fierce struggles that preceded the existing era. The bulb 
Helds were battlefields then, and it needs an effort to break the spell of 
the picture, to bring the imagination back from the past, and to revive 
the recollection that if a gardening writer may be pardoned for an 
occasional excursion from Flora’s domain into the realms of Mars, it 
must only be a brief digression. 
Holland, as generally understood by us, comprises the whole of the 
Netherlands. This is not quite correct, inasmuch as Hol'and forms only 
a part of the kingdom of the Low Countries ; but it is not worth while to 
discu^ geographical accuracies in the present connection, for the bulb¬ 
growing district is actually a part of Holland proper. Haarlem is its 
centre, and the great majority of the bulbs cultivated on such a colossal 
scale for exportation are grown between that town and Leiden, distant 
about twenty miles. These places are reached almost as easily as any 
great English town, and much more quickly than the north of Scotland. 
For comfort and economy combined the Great Eastern route rid 
Harwich and Rotterdam may be well chosen. The continental train 
leaves Liverpool Street, London, at 8 p.m., and Rotterdam is reached at 
eight the following morning, the sea journey lasting a little over ten 
hours. Trains from the Dutch port travel to Haarlem or Amsterdam in 
about an hour and a quarter, so that the whole journey lasts but four- 
■teen to fifteen hours. Return tickets are issued available for a month 
on very reasonable terms, and the question of expense is therefore a by 
no means serious matter. Whoever is desirous of a holiday may have 
one full of interest and enjoyment by running over to spend a few days 
among the Dutch bulbs. 
To many untravelled Englishmen foreigners are credited with 
mysterious ways and guileful customs, to become entangled among 
which is to fall a prey to abnormal embarrassment and extortion. No 
such apprehensions need agitate the breast of the visitor to Holland. 
He will find himself almost as comfortable and as much at home as if 
he were in England. Should he not find himself in a condition to 
enjoy a hearty breakfast as the steamer completes the last few miles of 
her journey in the river Maas, but avoids the dining saloon in order to 
study the play of light and shade on the surface of the water over the 
side of the vessel, he can restore exhausted nature at the railway 
station with something at once cheap and substantial. I would not 
suggest that any such suspicious occurrence is probable. I merely 
suggest a ready means of rectifying the effects of a possible rough 
passage. Nor, should the traveller have been studying Delille or Otto, 
need he let loose his rudimentary knowledge of French or German upon 
the unoffending head of the Hollander. To such blandishments as 
ParUz vimx Prangais ? or Sprechcn Sie Devtseh? the reply is frequentlj- 
a negative shrug ; but try him with English, and the effect is usually 
much more satisfactory. Let it be understood that this does not apply 
to those of fair social standing. Most Dutchmen of average education 
know French, English, and German, and with many you might throw 
in some half a dozen other languages without finding them at fault. 
It refers to the customs officials, boatmen, porters, waiters, and such 
like, though the latter sometimes display unexpected abilities as 
linguists. >n inquiry of one with a decidedly Gallic cast of features as 
to whether he spoke French was answered by the startling reply, “No, 
I don’t speak French ; but I speak American ! ’’ 
Holland proper is not a large country, and the distances from one 
important town to another are short. From Rotterdam, a remarkably 
fine and busy town, the Hague (which must be looked for as “den 
Haag ’’) is very quickly reached, but the traveller in search of spring 
flowers does not stop here, although as a summer resort it is unequalled. 
Journeying on he soon reaches Leiden, or Leyden according to English 
orthography. Here he might stop and visit Mr. de Graaff, a great grower 
of Amaryllises and Narcissi, or, proceeding direct to Haarlem, work his 
way back to Leiden after inspecting the bulb farms in the neighbour* 
hood of the former town. From the latter onwards the bulbs begin to 
break upon the view. From the middle to the end of March there are 
sheets of Crocuses ; the first, second and third weeks of April millions 
of Hyacinths, and then towards the end of April and the early part of 
May the gorgeous Tulips unfold. During the whole of .April the fields 
are clothed in beauty, and both earlier and later than that month there 
is ample to reward a visit. 
So recently as the autumn of last year the methods of cultivation 
followed by the Dutch were fully described in the Journal by Mr. 
Alfred H. Pearson, and it could hardly be of interest to re-traverse the 
ground covered in his admirable paper by giving over again such details 
of their culture as the Dutch think proper to communicate to inquiring 
visitors. There are, however, some points which 1 think may be found 
worth a few moments’ consideration. One that interested me greatly 
related to the universal custom of removing the flower stems of the 
bulbs just as the spikes had attained full development. It is well known 
that this practice is adopted on all the farms, and the general opinion 
in this country is that there is but one object in view in depriving the 
plants of their beauty at its zenith—namely, to save the plants the 
strain of ripening seed, and to aid the development of the bulbs by the 
power thus conserved being devoted solely to them. This, according to 
one of the largest growers and exporters at Haarlem, is not the case. 
The specific object of removing the flowers of Hyacinths and Tulips icy 
he says, to avoid the petals falling upon the leaves, which occasions 
spotting, commonly called “ fire.” AVhen the foliage becomes thus 
affected its powers of assimilation and elaboration are materially cur¬ 
tailed, and the bulbs are greatly weakened. It must be confessed that 
my preconceived notions of the primary object of the cutting down 
process practised by the bulb growers were somewhat upset by this 
information, and I inquired if the question of saving the strain of seed 
ripening was not considered of at least some weight. The reply was in 
the affirmative, but it was added that it is so small a consideration that 
in the case of Crocuses and Narcissi, which do not become “ fired ” by 
the falling flowers, it is not thought worth while to sacrifice the time 
necessary for removing the latter, and they are consequently allowed to 
fall. The manner of removing the flowers is merely a matter of con¬ 
venience. Hyacinth spikes are cut off; Tulips, the stems of which are 
brittle, are broken with the fingers and thumb. 
1 have no reason to believe that my informant was practising on 
the credulity of his English visitor in this matter, and I was informed 
that the custom and its objects were not pecu'iar to one individual and 
practised by one firm, but were of general adoption. In this case we 
have been supporting ourselves with a broken reed in pointing to the 
Dutch system in corroboration of our views on removing the flowers of 
Hyacinths and Tulips, but as regards the merits of the practice out 
opinion need undergo no change. It cannot be harmful to relieve a 
plant of the burden of seed ripening ; on the contrary, it must possess 
a measure of benefit, and therefore the practice should be continued. 
In walking about the farms and conversing on various points in 
bulb culture, one cannot fail to be struck by the important part that is 
played by the disease. Withered plants or ugly gaps show where its 
fell work has been accomplished. A curious instance of the disease 
localising itself was pointed out to me on a large farm. One end of a 
series of beds had been attacked, and the line of destruction was as 
clearly defined as if the affected portion had been scorched. On this 
self same spot the disease had manifested itself year after year, the 
remaining portions of the beds always escaping. The whole of the soil had 
been removed and fresh substituted, and new stocks of bulbs had been 
planted, but the disease reappeared with unfailing regularity, until one 
of the most experienced bulb-growers in Holland had to confess himself 
completely baffled. Does any reader of the Journal wish to increase 
his store of this world’s goods a thousandfold I Possibly there is &t 
least one who is not in the happy position of having enough and to spare. 
Then let him study the bulb diseases which perplex the Dutch growers 
and annually subject them to heavy losses. Let him note effect, study 
cause, and find a cure, and he will be hailed as a benefactor, and, what 
is of more importance, reap a golden harvest. During the past six 
years a new disease has attained serious proportions. It has been care¬ 
fully investigated by the two Amsterdam savants. Professor de Vries 
and Dr. Wakker, and I am promised the result of their inquiries when 
an opportunity arises of communicating them. Although they have, I 
believe, traced a bacillus, they have not succeeded in finding a means 
of checking it. Some varieties are affected by this disease to a far 
greater extent than others. Its presence is readily detected in the beds, 
and diseased plants are at once destroyed. The roots, I believe, are the 
points of attack, and they are speedily destroyed, the leaves also chang¬ 
ing colour and withering, in fact the whole plant collapses. 
There is a serpent, it will be seen, in this bulb growers’ Eden. Were 
they free from the disquieting disease matters would be roseate for them 
just now. Bulbs are in great demand at enhanced prices ; in fact, trade 
is brisk and profitable all round. The latter feature would not be 
admitted by many. It is a peculiarity of some Dutch growers thal 
every innocent Englishman must be informed that there is no profit in 
bulb growing. The innocent Englishman sometimes responds with a 
“ smile that is childlike and bland” that he had no idea such business¬ 
like people as the Dutch would do so much work from purely philan¬ 
thropic motives ; at which the grower, unless he fails to understand 
English when he sees that he is being “got at,” is moved to the con¬ 
fession that he does “make a little by it, but nothing worth speaking 
of.” It is not so bad in some cases, however. One large grower dii- 
