observations at Lapark, the many letters received from delighted customers, and the orders 
they are already sending in for Fall shipment, would surely brush away every doubt. 
Jack Frost interfered also with our plans for photographs, and the beautiful views of 
our own beds we had expected to print in this year’s Catalogue cannot be shown, as our 
engraver tells us he cannot make pictures from “frozen” views. 
Every groover who comes to Lapark enthusiastically promises us that he will send us 
specially taken photographs of the flowers as they are grown for us in Holland, but in two 
years all we have been able to get from the other side of the water is the interesting picture 
shown on opposite page and a lot of clippings from old catalogues that are of no earth¬ 
ly use to us or to any one else. It does seem so hard to convey fully to a foreigner exactly 
what we in America particularly want to see. In certain parts of Holland they grow 
virtually nothing but Bulbs, and the growing of the flowers has become so much a part 
of their daily lives, that they probably feel about them as we would were we asked to send 
photographs and descriptions of fields of growing potatoes to some country where the 
delicious tuber was not so well known. 
Is it any wonder thousands of travelers visit the Bulb farms of Holland every Spring? 
Think what-this picture would be if we might have printed it in colors. 
• But I want all the rest of these pages for a little more special matter, and then for 
descriptions and pictures of the Bulbs themselves, the part of the Catalogue in which, I 
am sure, you will be more interested. 
Bulb Prices Are Somewhat Lower This Year And We Are Importing 
Four Times As Many 
Last year all American importers of Dutch Bulbs had to pay the Holland growers 
higher prices than ever before. We were satisfied that there was no necessity for such 
prices, and that it was merely a sort of “profiteering”, or effort on the part of the Holland¬ 
ers to take advantage of the, to them, apparent willingness of Americans to pay freely for 
what they want, to make up some of the losses they claimed to have suffered during the 
War. We “shopped” to the best advantage, and yarned the Hollanders that they were 
making a mistake that would react against them in the end. And so this year, when they 
flocked to America expecting a golden harvest of orders they were turned down hard, there 
were no orders waiting for them at the hands of the larger and more experienced importers 
of this country.We all just“sat tight”,and by and by one Hollander after another began to 
realize that America and not Holland would this year dictate prices.One by one they broke 
away from their Growers Association,established apparently chiefly to maintain uniformly 
high prices, and were glad to accept orders at reasonable prices. 
We Are Giving Our Customers Full Benefit Of The Lower Cost To Us 
Last year our prices were lower than those of any other importer and dealer, quality 
and size Bulbs considered. In fact we made our prices too low in most cases and did not 
clear the reasonable profit we were entitled to make. But the truth is we did not like to 
be compelled to charge even as much as we did, because we are still of the opinion that 
every business man,every businesscorporation,should have aconscience and bear as his mot¬ 
to, “a square deal to every customer”. This is the basis on which we have continued to 
figure our prices for this year’s Catalogue. 
When Comparing Prices, In Our Catalogue, Please Remember That On 
Every Order We Pay The Postage,While Nearly Every Other Dealer 
Asks Customers To Pay Postage Extra 
On especially large quantities that are marked in our Catalogue to be shipped by ex¬ 
press, the receiver pays the express charges, but they are made up to him by the extra low 
prices quoted on such quantities of stock. Most other dealers ship all orders for a dozen 
or more by express and the customer must pay transportation charges, while we ship'only 
very large quantities by express. These are facts fully understood by most of our friends 
and are very effective in showing how much farther a dollar goes at Lapark than any¬ 
where else. 
The Varieties Of Bulbs Catalogued 
In every class of Bulbs we always select and catalogue the recognized best named 
varieties necessary to give our friends the colors and shades most in demand. We me 
quite often asked, by those who do not understand our plan very clearly, why we do noi 
hst a very much larger number of varieties in each class, when other growers’ catalogues 
