Nor is the direct business the only concern. The little
trial ground of a rood or two is compact of the newer sorts being tried out ; and a good deal of valuable research is done in association with the scientific station at Kirton. As a spectacle the fields whether of daffodil or tulip do not compare with the Dutch farms I have seen at Haarlem and elsewhere for the reason that most of the flowers are picked just before they open. The flower harvest conies before the bulb harvest, but the wholesale firms now procure a good percentage of their bulbs from English sources ; and there is a considerable retail trade, in which some of the Government smallholders (members of what is locally always tailed the Crown Colony) have a fair share ; but they cannot, of course, compete in variety of supply.
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