Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-08

way that the thatch can be lowered as the
hay is fed out. All woodwork is painted,
aud rot and rust are not to be seen. In
deed. the only things that show signs of
decay here are the windmills, some of which
are hundreds of years old. In some cases
these have been replaced by steam or oil
engines, but they still do a great deal OF
pumping and grinding. You see them every
where upon the Dutch landscape; some are
huge affairs with al ms thirty or more feet
long, and great stone or brick towers rising
high above the rest of the landscape. Many
furnish the power fer grist mills. Some
saw lumber and others grind flour and TODD
for the stock. 1t takes only two men for
a large mill, so that the expense Of running
is slight. l am told that q large mill costs
$1,000 or 81. OCO, and thai the smaller ones
are much more expensive than the steel
structures of a similar kind in America.
The Dutch make money out Of gardening
and especially flower gardening. They raise
vegetables and fruits for England, but their
peaches and pears lack flavor, though they
are full Of juice. They taste to me much
like the fruits of Japan which has about
the same climate.
There are parts of Holland, however,
which are Just right for flowers. Take the
region about Harlem, where more bulbs
are raised than at any place in the world.
The soil there is a mixture of send and
loan, Just fitted for the best of tulips,
hyacinths and gladioluses. There are syndi-
Gates and individuals at Harlem who do
a big business in bulb raising. They have
patches OF tulips, hyacinths and other bulbs
acres in extent. The hyacinths load the air
with their perfume and the fields are of
such colors that in passing through on the
railroad at certain times of the year you
seem to be travelling over a crazy quilt
more gorgeous than any ever put together
in reality.
There are in all about 1000 different
kinds of tulips raised here, 1000 varieties
OF gladioluses and LOO hyacinths. The
bulbs are planted in trenches. with the
large plants in the center and the small
ones at the side. The varieties are kept
separate, each row being labeled with its
own name.
The most OF the bulbs exported by Hol-
land are raised near HARLEM. and this
means an amount equal to about 5000. 900
annually, much of which comes from the
United States.
1t was at Harlem that the best tulips
were raised during the great craze, when
such bulbs brought their weight in gold.
That was about the only time hat the
Dutch lost their heads and went wild over
speculation. They speculate still, buS most
of their enterprises are on an investment
basis. During the tulip craze, along about
when Boston was started, one HARLEM
tulip bulb brought l 1900, with a team of
gray horses and a carriage thrown in, and
an Amsterdam bulb was sold for twelve
acres OF land. Both of these bulbs were of
the variety known as the Semper Augustus,
Of which there were then only two in ex-
istence. At the same time other varieties
brought enormous sums. Tulip buying was
a regular business and men grew rich and
poor from the trade. Some Dutch mort
loss of a peck of bulbs caused a mans ruin.
The Dutch tulips now sell for ordinary
prices, but they are still handled on bust
ness principles, and both cultivation and
marketing have been reduced to a science.
The bulbs are set out in September and
October. They are carefully cultivated by
skilled workmen, many of the farms en-
ploying hundreds OF hands. They are
packed for the market just so and are
shipped to seed and flower dealers all over
the world.
l doubt il the ordinary Dutch farmer
makes money. Take the SO, 900 who have
less than fifteen acres. They cannot at
best produce more than a living. Indeed,
some OF these are selling their farms and
renting others. Lands are high and rents
are calculated at about 8 per cent Of the
land values.
Wages are very low. A good farmland
can be hired for from 80 to 40 cents a day,