THE bulb industry came to South Holland in the late 19th century. John White was one of the pioneers 
of bulb-growing in the area. In the 1880s, he began to trade in snowdrops, daffodils, narcissi, and soon progressed to planting plots of’the bulbs
One spring, he sent a trial lot to Covent Garden. They were a hit and a new flower industry was born.
Other growers Dick Welland. Sam Culpln, and Oscar D’Alcorn also began to sell in Covent Garden.
The success of the bulb-growers in South Holland did not go unnoticed by their Dutch nvals. In the early 20th century, some came over to sell bulbs. Some stayed. Among the first were Cornelius Slooten and Dominicus van Konynenburg.
But the Dutch settlers that had the most spectacular success were the brothers John and Leonard van Geest. They began their career travelling around on bicycles, selling their wares. They took land to grow vegetables and bulbs and expanded into pre-packing and distribution. They began to organise banana production in the West Indies.
In time, they handled a large proportion of the British banana trade, and they merged with other local bulb-growers
By 1933, the number of bulb-growers had increased to 150. About 2,500 acres of bulbs were being grown in the Spalding and Wisbech districts. By 1939, 7,500 acres were grown.
Until mechanisation of planting and lifting_was developed, the whole of the bulb crop was planted and
picked by hand. Vast numbers of people were employed in this task. By the 1950s, Dutch machines that could plant bulbs and lift flowers were introduced. However, some delicate flowers, such as tulips, have not responded well to these machines.
Thanks go to Reg Dobbs, author of Bulbs in Britain-A Century of Growing, for information and help.sorce local paper
