N OTHING reflects the changed conditions in the bulb world so 
clearly as the difficulties I have encountered in the preparation 
of the Blue Book for 1934. The program of the Dutch growers and 
their government, outlined elsewhere in this issue, has turned an 
amazing page in the history of the Tulip. 
It has been impossible to retain many of the varieties with which 
my first acquaintance was made many years ago, for the simple 
reason that there are no more bulbs of them in the fields of Holland. 
Distribution of this year’s Blue Book has been long delayed in my 
endeavor to find some bulbs still available for the gardener who 
will regret their passing as keenly as I do, but many sorts have been 
so consistently discarded that the search for them has been utterly 
vain. 
That we shall have to go along in our gardening without them 
is made up to us, however, in large measure by the wealth of new 
things to take their places. More and more I marvel at the beauty 
revealed to me in my garden by the varieties sent me by the Hol¬ 
landers to be tested here at Mayfair for the benefit of our friends. 
Some of them are like nothing ever seen before; others are wonder¬ 
ful improvements upon existing kinds, so that the inclusion of tbe 
best and most distinct in the Blue Books of the past two or three 
years affords the American gardener the same sort of thrill that I 
have myself experienced. 
If you who read this will seek in the following pages for the 
novelties you have never had in your own garden, I know you will 
find ample compensation for the loss of the old favorites we have 
both grown for so many gardening years. 
From Mayfair 
June 1st, 1934. 
