Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-29

Solomon, in all his glory, was not array
ed like one of these"
So, In the parable, Christ spoke. In the
new testament 1t is doubtful If these is
any other record where He made other
reference to any flower. This Is the rea-
son given by many of the lily being the
flower prominent at Easter time.
Where do all the lilies come from?
1t is a puzzling question to many. for
1T seems that they appear by the million
at Easter and then fade away again,
not to be seen in great numbers until the
next Easter comes around.
Out in the Atlantic ocean, $50 miles due
east of the North Carolina coast, are 800
tiny islands They are the Bermudas,
and from them comes 80 per cent of the
Easter lilies used in this country. Some
of these islands are so small and so low
that~no one lives on them, for when the
weather is turbulent the ocean has hap-
1t of washing clean over them. More
than 300 of the islands are subject to WIS.,
itation of .ethis kind, otherwise they
~-o,,ld pe inhabited and the lily crop
fsbe a thousand times larger than
1t now is.
In all of the 365 islands there are but
$4,000 acres of land, not as much as In a
fair sized Texas cattle ranch, and of this
only 1000 acres are under cultivation. On
ions, potatoes and lilies are grown, and
that is about ALL New York gets 80 per
cent of these three crops for distribution
through the country, and the best pay
ing of the three is the lily crop.
Grow Like Weeds.
How many lilies are grown in the Ber-
mudas is a difficult question to answer.
The figures run way into the tens of mills
lions. They grow like weeds, and II 1t
were merely a question of producing
lilies the Bermudas could easily flood the
world with them from one years end-to
the other. But the Bermuda lily farm
ers handle their crop with one purpose
in view, and that Is to make the beauti-
full plant bloom at Easter time. This at
first was a difficult matter, but 1t Is now
accomplished with almost clock-llke pre-
ciSion.
How They Are Grown.
Aside from this, there is little trouble
in the work of growing lilies. The outer
portion of each bulb consists OF scales,
everything one upon the other THESE
scales represent layers and at the base
of each of them is a bud. Each bud rep
fesents a plant The Bermuda farmer
caves few of his bulbs each year for
seed, as the northern farmer saves pota-
toes for the same purpose. He pulls Off
the scales and plants them in September,
in shallow boxes of moist sand. From
the bulbs spring delicate rootletS, which
quickly extend through the sand seek
ing for moisture. AS soon as the roots
are sufficiently formed the embryo plants
are SET
BY the following summer little bullets
are developed. These the farmer calls
his stock 1t takes about 10000 of them
10 plant an acre. They keep on grow
ing through all the mild weather, and in
the following June are ready to be dug.
An acre of land ought to produce 10000
marketable bulbs, with a diameter of
from to inches 1t takes four years
and sometimes longer to produce the
great bulbs from to IA inches in dame
ter, from which spring the tall stalks
crowded with many blossoms.
The earliest bulbs are dug about the
middle of June, though they are not
fully ripened until fully three or four
weeks later. The tubers must be picked
as soon as they are taken out of the
ground because half an hour of glazing
Sunshine would ruin them irretrlevably.
No curing Is necessary. They are merely
packed in sand, which seems to preserve
them better, than any other material.
The Way They Are Shipped.
The grower has boards with four holes
of different sizes in them, and the bulbs
are sorted by being passed through these
holes. The lily fields are covered with
plants varying in height from a few
inches to or 8 feet. The small ones are
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