HOLLAND’S FLOWER LAND

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 84, 3 January 1930, Page 2

HOLLAND’S FLOWER LAND

WON FROM A LAKE NEW METHODS IN THE AUCTION ROOM Less than a century ago there was an enormous lake, a useless expanse of water, south of Haarlem. It had no outlet to the sea, and the only purpose it has ever been known to serve was that during Spanish predominance hundreds of Dutch burghers were mercilessly drowned in it. The lake was eventually drained, and now a large area of fertile land provides a living for thousands of people. Some twenty years ago it was found that the soil in the northern part of this new territory was particularly lit for the cultivation of flowers. In the last ten years the demand for Dutch flowers has greatly increased, and Aalsmeer has organised itself to cope with new conditions. The result has been that its trade in flowers has improved by leaps and bounds. A regular bus service was instituted between Aalsmeer and the aerodrome of Schiphol, where the international airlines converge; and in this way flowers sold in Holland at nine o’clock in the morning are exhibited in the great shops of London, Paris, and Berlin early in the afternoon. Even Nice, which not so long ago used to send its flowers to the rest of Western Europe, now receives a daily share from the Low Countries. At early dawn the flower-gathering begins in the fields round about Aalsmeer; loaded high, the carts return to town and by eight o’clock the immense auction halls are packed—an unforgettable sight. Now that the season is at its height, there is seldom a free place on the buyers’ banks. Small street traders from Amsterdam sit next to representatives of the greatest export houses. They have all paid their deposit of a “rijksdaalder (about 4/2J that entitles them to. a numbered seat for the day. The selling system followed in this flower land is original and efficient. The entire side-wall of the auction room is occupied by a disc, with the figures 1 to 100 written around its edge. A hand moves slowly from 100 downwards, and as soon as it reaches a figure that —in the estimation of the buyer—represents the purchase value of‘the lot on offer, that buyer presses a button fixed in front of his place. Immediately the hand stops, and a little coloured lamp glows up, showing the number of the tribune- seat whose occupier bought the - flowers. There can be no misunderstanding on the part of the auctioneer. Several buyers may press, their buttons almost simultaneously.' But one must have been quicker, if only by a fraction of a second, than the others, and the machine will infallibly point him out as the buyer. The auction halls, forming the centre of this prosperous little town, are super-modern. Three times a week auctions of plants in pots take place. To facilitate the transportation and avoid the trouble of discharging and reloading these thousands of pots, two canals, each about eight yards wide, were dug, connecting the Aalsmeer and Haarlemmermeer polder waterways with the auction halls, where the flatdecked ships now enter—merely for a change of ownership of their cargoes. Aalsmeer, from a small, forgotten village, has become the centre of an ever-growing world trade. Last year it sent more than £lOO,OOO worth of flowers to various countries, and it is expected that the total of this season’s exports will considerably surpass that figure.