429 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Hay  20,  1897. 
— 
« 
use  a  large  shovel  nearly  heart-shaped  in  digging,  and  work  very 
rapidly.  Forks  are  useless  ;  the  soil  would  fall  between  the  tines 
like  water  through  a  sieve.  Trenching  is  trenching  in  Bulbland. 
It  is  not  uncommon  for  the  soil  to  be  turned  up  5  feet  deep  ;  in 
fact,  it  is  the  rule  to  turn  the  top  soil  right  down  every  three  years 
or  so,  as  it  gats  bulb-sick.  The  subsoil  brought  up  is  not  sour, 
nor  does  it  look  unkind.  Manured  and  cropped  with  Potatoes  in 
spring,  it  is  in  good  condition  for  bulbs  the  same  autumn.  No 
doubt  the  porous  nature  of  the  soil,  combined  with  the  vigorous 
stirring  it  receives,  secures  aeration  at  a  far  greater  depth  than 
would  be  possible  in  strong  land. 
Asparagus  grows  to  perfection,  as  might  be  expected.  Dirk  the 
Dutchman  does  not  share  our  partiality  for  green  nobs.  He  likes 
his  Asparagus  white,  and  plenty  of  it.  As  soon  as  the  heads  show 
a  spade  depth  of  the  soil  is  turned  on  to  the  top  of  them,  conse¬ 
quently  they  grow  to  a  great  size  and  blanch.  “Ah!”  someone 
may  remark,  “  what  about  the  toughness  ?  ”  My  dear  sir,  it  melts 
like  marrow.  When  cut  the  Asparagus  is  usually  put  into  water 
and  eaten  the  same  day.  Perhaps  if  it  were  kept  a  day  or  two  and 
then  sent  over  to  England,  a  week  elapsing  from  cutting  time  to 
use,  it  would  be  as  tough  as  a  good  deal  of  the  French  is.  So  far 
as  can  be  learned,  no  particular  care  is  taken  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  crop.  It  grows,  as  Asparagus  will  grow,  on  porous  sandy  soil 
not  many  miles  from  the  sea,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a  profit¬ 
able  trade  could  be  done  in  it,  the  natural  conditions  being  so 
favourable  ;  but  the  growers  have  something  better  to  occupy  their 
attention. 
Another  vegetable  grown  under  different  conditions  from  those 
which  exist  in  this  country  is  variegated  Kale.  The  Dutchmen 
have  some  very  good  strains  of  it,  quite  as  good  as,  if  not  better 
than,  our  own  ;  and  having  got  them  they  are  not  afraid  to  use 
them.  In  the  grounds  at  the  front  of  many  large  villas'  are  seen 
circular  beds  filled  with  these  Kales.  The  plants  are  about  2  feet 
high,  of  a  good  pyramidal  habit,  and  beautifully  coloured.  They 
are  genuinely  handsome,  and  although  they  do  not  secure  very 
much  attention  in  bulb  time  they  do  in  the  dull  season,  imparting 
an  agreeable  warmth  of  colour  to  bare  surroundings. 
and  did  not  go  unrewarded,  although  many  of  the  plants  I  saw 
were  not  in  flower.  For  instance,  the  beautiful  double  white 
Colchicum  (Colchicum  autumnale  albo-pleno)  was  not  flowering, 
but  I  was  not  surprised  to  hear  that  it  is  in  considerable  demand. 
The  same  with  the  white  Pasque  Flower  (Anemone  pulsatilla  alba), 
a  most  pleasing  and  attractive  novelty.  Allium  giganteum  is  being 
asked  for,  and  so  is  Deutzia  Lemoinei.  I  saw  a  charming  novelty 
of  the  Dog’s-tooth  Violet  race  in  the  form  of  Erythronium  grandi- 
florum  var.  citrina,  pure  yellow  and  very  beautiful.  Amongst  the 
Hyacinthus  or  Muscari  there  was  comosus  albus,  a  white  sort. 
FIG.  87.— IBIS  LOBTETI. 
These  are  not  a  largely  grown  class,  but  to  see  them  in  massed 
beds  in  Holland  is  to  fall  into  prompt  and  permanent  admiration. 
There  are  two  genera  which  are  grown  on  a  truly  enormous 
scale  at  Overveen  ;  one  is  Iris,  the  other  P?eony.  To  say  that  these 
are  cultivated  by  the  acre  is  a  very  mild  assertion,  innocent  of  any 
shadow  of  exaggeration.  It  would  be  almost  worth  a  journey  to 
see  them  in  flower,  the  Paaonies  in  particular,  but  that,  of  course, 
would  have  to  be  later  than  mid-April.  You  may  get  the  late 
Hyacinths  and  the  early  Tulips  at  Easter,  but  you  will  not  get  Irises 
and  Pseonies  in  quantity.  Amongst  the  newer  Irises  in  considerable 
demand  are  Bakeriana,  Gatesi,  Lorteti  (fig.  87),  Milesi,  Rosenbach- 
iana,  and  sindjarensis.  Paeonia  Whitmanniana  is  greatly  asked 
for,  and  in  addition  to  this  beautiful  creamy  Caucasian  species  there 
is  a  very  large  assortment  of  the  best  varieties  of  other  sections. 
Pssonies  grow  luxuriantly  and  flower  magnificently  in  the  Haarlem 
sand,  and  perhaps  the  principal  reason  is  that  they  have  a  deep 
and  uninterrupted  root  run.  When  the  lustrous  Pasony  can  stretch 
his  toes  down  several  feet,  then  is  he  gay,  joyous,  and  prolific. 
The  city  of  the  flowery  plain  is  gay  and  lively  in  the  glowing 
springtime.  Its  handsome  streets,  fine  houses,  historic  church, 
galleries,  and  interesting  crowds  make  it  something  more  than  a 
centre  for  the  bulb  villages  ;  but  features  such  as  those  I  must  pass. 
Scarcely  a  mile  away  is  the  nursery  of  Messrs.  Ant.  Roozen  and 
Sons,  one  of  the  most  attractive  to  the  amateur.  A  steady  walk 
for  about  ten  minutes  straight  from  Haarlem  Market  place  took 
me  to  a  villa  surrounded  by  bulb  beds,  and  rising  from  the  latter 
was  a  bold  name  board.  It  was  enough,  although  both  board  and 
villa  were  new.  Great  extensions  have  been  made  since  my  last 
visit.  More  houses  have  been  built  and  more  land  taken.  There 
is  an  air  of  substance  about  the  whole  establishment  which  inspires 
respect.  The  drying  stores,  packing  houses,  and  offices  are  hand¬ 
some,  spacious,  and  of  the  best  construction.  There  is  a  temptation 
to  overlook  these  evidences  of  strength  in  the  brighter,  but  more 
ephemeral,  pictures  of  the  beds,  but  they  are  worth  mentioning  for 
all  that. 
History  repeated  itself  in  one  respect — the  stalwart  sire  was 
absent,  but  two  stalwart  sons  represented  him.  I  was  interested 
at  the  outset  in  a  splendid  house  of  Amaryllis,  chiefly  because 
they  represented  our  best  types.  Well-rounded  flowers  of  great 
substance  and  rich  firm  colours  were  conspicuous  among  a  beautiful 
batch  of  novelties.  They  are  a  new  departure  I  understood,  and 
represent  a  wonderfully  good  start.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted 
that  any  class  of  bulbous  plants  which  finds  favour  in  England  will 
very  soon  receive  the  attention  of  these  wideawake  Dutchmen.  In 
anything  that  affects  their  own  line  of  business  they  are  as  watchful 
as  cats.  There  is  something  instructive  in  the  plasticity  displayed 
all  over  the  Continent  in  whatever  concerns  John  Bull’s  spending 
department.  Our  language  is  thoroughly  mastered,  our  country  is 
tramped  from  end  to  end,  our  methods  of  trade  are  studied. 
A  take-it-or-leave-it  air  is  never  assumed.  There  is  no  pretence 
that  the  universe  is  eagerly  bent  on  getting  some  particular  class  of 
goods.  On  the  contrary,  the  prevailing  notion  is  that  what  people 
want  shall  be  supplied  to  them,  and  if  it  does  not  exist  it  must  be 
brought  into  being,  and  put  on  the  market  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment.  _ 
Economic  homilies  being  pardonable  only  as  a  digression,  I 
return  to  my  muttons.  Messrs.  Ant.  Roozen  &  Sons  give  a  good 
deal  of  attention  to  John’s  partiality  for  something  new.  It  i«  a 
weakness  of  his  to  keep  trying  fresh  things,  and  they  are  thoroughly 
familiar  with  it.  tI  had  a  ramble  round  their  novelty  department, 
