The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1903-04-10
CULTIVATION OF 5ly;l.1s.
Secretary Wilson Tells Of Ex-.
perimeuts With Flowers.
PRODUCTIONS OF RARE BLOOMS.

land-1ndusery That Exceeds s1-
100000 Yearly. i
The presidents cabinet at a recent
meeting heard q lively account from
the secretary of.agriculture, Mr.. VIII
son, about the successful development
Of new industry in the far northwest,
says the Washington Post. His de- \
partment has been expending about
5000 annually for hyacinths, narcis-S
suses and tulips from Holland. The
Dutch have been experts for genera
tons in growing those flowers, and II
is historic how the production Of ttllinss5
once became such a craze In ~, s!!s5Sts9s SSa
kingdom that certain choice ki;h' N1siisssg5s
actually worth their weight ,5lsso.9'.
The imports into the United 81
bulbs Of these three flowers. Wssssg
come packed in buckwheat Lulls, aie
understood to exceed $1,OOO,000 annt-
ally.
The department has been experiment.
ing for about five years to find cli-
mate in the United States where the
bulbs for these beautiful blooms could
land and has at last succeeded. This
came about in unexpected fashion.
Some Dutch who went to northwest
Washington to live undertook there to
raise the same choice flowers with
which they had beauti1ed their sur
roundings in Holland. There, under
the benefcent breath Of the Chinook
winds, hyacinths, narcissuses and tu-
lips f1ourished even better than In the
choicest spots Of Holland. There are
heavy rains winter and summer in that
section Of Washington state, moisture
is constantly In the afr, and the soil at
sea level is rich, all the climatic condt-
tions closely resembling those in Hol-
hand. -. . - Va. ~
But these Dutch immigrants wrote
back to Holland about the success they
were having with the flowers, from
which at home a vest dealto money
was being made, and It was from Hol-
land that the reports reached the agri-
cultural department That led to I'M
yestigatiDn and further experiments,
which hare fuily sattsned the depart
ment that Washington state and part
Of Oregon are capable Of producing all
of these bulbs that the flower beds and
the greenhouses OF the east can utilize
every year. The only difficulty now In
the way Is one Of freight rates, for the
Dutch Of Holland can still put their
flower bulbs down in New York at
cheaper figure than costs to transport
the same articles overland from the
Pacific coast.
The bulbs from Holland are service
able In the eastern flower beds only
for one year. If one strives to secure
flowers from them second year, It is
found that the blossoms are of very
inferior quality. Hitherto the depart
ment has pulled up the bulbs after one
years crop and thrown them on the
rubbish heap, except recently some ex-
periments have been made with send
ing these old bulbs into Washington
state, where 1t has been found that
they produce beautiful flowers the Sec
ond year.
The cabinet members were much in
terested in Secretary Wilson's state
ment about these experiments, which
have been conducted under the imme-
diate direction Of Professor B. I. Gal
loway. The department is also con-
Quoting experiments with Easter lilies.
which now have to be brought from
the Bermudas annually to the extent
of about 100000. Climates have been
found in the south which are favora-s
BILE to the production Of these beautiful
lilies, but the chief difficulty has been
to make them flower early enough for
the Easter season. However, there is
reason to hope that the lily bulbs can
be developed artiicially by treatment
in cold storage, SO that the flowers can
be brought out in season.
Cowboy Breakfast For the President
j A cowboy breakfast will be given for