A fine display of pace bowling by Viv Kingma and Paul van Meekeren, backed up by some superb left-arm spin from Roelof van der Merwe, did the damage, Kingma removing Hamish Gardiner, Matt Machan and Preston Mommsen to finish the day with three for 9 from his eight overs.
After the frustrations of the scheduled first day, when no play was possible because of the effects of the rain which had plagued the ground staff during the preparation period, it came as a relief that play could start on time, and do so in late summer sunshine.
Mommsen won the toss and unsurprisingly gave his bowlers first use of the conditions, an opportunity they exploited so successfully that by the end of the extended opening session they had claimed four Dutch wickets at the cost of 87 runs.
Debutant Rahil Ahmed was the first to go, fishing outside off stump and caught at second slip by Hamish Gardiner off the bowling of Rob Taylor when he made just four.
Taylor bowled tightly at the outset, and Ben Cooper, in at three, survived a couple of confident appeals for leg-before from the first two deliveries he received.
He soon began to display some lovely off-drives, however, and with Michael Rippon also scoring freely things looked promising for the home side, the total reaching 50 without further loss by the end of the first hour.
Now, however, Mommsen brought left-arm spinner Con de Lange into the attack, and with his fourth ball he beat Rippon's bat and the Dutch opener was trapped in front for a well-made 30. His mission accomplished, De Lange was immediately withdrawn again, Taylor switching from the Paddock to the Pavilion End
Roelof van der Merwe now joined Cooper, and they added 23 precious runs before Cooper followed Ahmed's example by chasing a wide delivery from Alasdair Evans and was brilliantly caught by Gardiner at point for 23.
Wesley Barresi did not last long, bowled by Evans playing back to a full-length delivery, and on 75 for four the home side were in considerable difficulty.
Van der Merwe, batting with composure, saw them through the half-hour to lunch without further loss, but the Dutch suffered a further setback immediately after the resumption, when Pieter Seelaar did not offer a shot to a delivery from Josh Davey which jagged back and took his off stump.
Stef Myburgh, in the unfamiliar position of No. 7, batted very positively as he and Van der Merwe added 65 for the sixth wicket, Van der Merwe reaching his 21st first-class half-century from 102 deliveries, but when Myburgh had made 35 from 42 balls, including five boundaries, he edged De Lange to slip, where Mommsen took an outstanding low catch.
Safyaan Sharif returned to get one past Peter Borren's bat, and at 169 for seven the Netherlands were in ever-increasing trouble. But Paul van Meekeren gave Van der Merwe solid support, and with exactly 100 runs coming in the session the home side had reached 187 for seven by the interval, the former South African international still undefeated on 68.
He departed soon afterwards, offering Davey a return catch when he had made 73, and from the next delivery Quirijn Gunning followed, like Seelaar not offering a shot.
Van Meekeren and Kingma saw their side past 200, but then the former made the same mistake, raising his bat to a Sharif delivery.
Davey finished with three for 36, while there were two wickets apiece for Evans, Sharif and De Lange.
The Scots could be well pleased with their work so far, but with the final ball of his opening over Kingma surprised Gardiner with one which seamed back and the Scottish opener became the fourth batsman to fall in this way.
Machan soon followed, and when Van der Merwe came into the attack he repeatedly beat the bat before getting Kyle Coetzer to edge one to Borren at slip. That made it 19 for three, and that became 19 for four when Mommsen joined the queue of leavers by not playing a shot to another straighter delivery from Kingma.
Van Meekeren now replaced Kingma at the Paddock End, and with his second delivery caught the edge of Richie Berrington's bat, Borren taking a very sharp low catch at slip.
Davey and Matthew Cross set about seeing their side through to the close, but in what turned out to be the final over of the day the former became the sixth batsman to misjudge the line from the Paddock End, seeing a Van Meekeren delivery cut back to strike the much-abused off stump.
So Scotland closed on 35 for six, still needing 25 to avoid the follow-on. The Dutch, on the other hand, need four wickets to claim first-innings points. Play will resume at 10:30 on Thursday, with 104 overs again being scheduled to be bowled in the day.