oo, she saw others still in bloom--a patch, the size
of a tennis-lawn squared, of scarlet ranunculous, little blood-red
rosettes, sheltered by a high close-clipped hedge. And another patch
of iris hispanica, fairy flowers of palest gold and lavender,
quivering at the top of their grey-green stalks like tropical
dragon-flies hovering over a field of growing oats. These it seemed,
and many others, would be brought in by and by, then the great barns
would be really full. Mijnheer took up a root here and there, telling
her something of the history of each; explaining how the narcissus
increased and the tulips grew; showing her hyacinth bulbs cut in
half-breadthways with all the separate severed layers distended by
reason of the growing and swelling of the seeds between.

"Each little seed will be a bulb by and by," he said, "but not yet.
When we cut the root first, we set it in the ground and these begin to
grow and become in time as you see them now. Afterwards they grow
bigger and bigger till their parent can no longer contain them."

"Does it take long for them to grow full size?" Julia asked.

"It takes five years to grow the finest hyacinth bulbs," Mijnheer
answered, "but inferior ones are more quick. And when the bulb is
grown, there is one bloom--fine, magnificent, a truss of
flowers--after that it deteriorates, it is, one may say, over. Ah, but
it is magnificent while it is there! There is no flower like the
hyacinth; had I my way, I would grow nothing else, but people will not
have them now. They must have novelties. 'Give us narcissus,' they
say; 'they are so graceful'--I do not see the grace--'Or iris'--well,
some are fine, I allow, but they do not last in bloom as do hyacinths.
The mourn iris of Persia is very beautiful; we have not one flowering
yet, but we shall have by and by. I will show you then; you will think
it very handsome. When it blooms I go to it in the morning and dust
the sand from the petals. I feel that I can reverence that flower; it
is most beautiful."

"Is it very scarce?" Julia asked.

"Somewhat," Mijnheer answered; "but we have things that are more so,
we have many novelties so called. Ah, but we have one novelty that is
a true one, it is a wonder, it has no price, it is priceless!" He drew
a deep breath of almost awed pride. "It is the greatest rarity that
has ever been reared in Holland, a miracle, in fact--a blue daffodil!"

Julia refrained from mentioning that she had heard of the