Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1918 — Page 3

Flowers For Eastern

To paint the lily, Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. SO said Shakespeare of the floral emblem of purity, of loveliness and especially of the" renewing of life. Its fairness and fragrance sung by the poet, its perfection of grace painted by the artist, the lily is the queen of spring blossoms chosen to symbolize the resurrection as it is celebrated at Easter. Some years ago the United States department of agriculture took note of this annual exodus 'of American funds, growing larger year by year, and since then it lias beep taking effectual measures to keep those millions at home. In the case of the Easter lily, the narcissus, the hyacinth and the tulip, with other spring blossoms* used at Easter in immense quantities, the government’s experiments have proved that all can be grown in this country, not only as well as abroad, hut better, and the department scientists are now working out the problems of how and in ex- , actly what sections of "the country Easter lilies and other bulbous plants and delicate flowering shrubs may be grown to best advantage. Of late years the Bermuda lily bulbs have given the United States- florists trouble by reason of disease, which has caused great uncertainty as to result and general deterioration in the stock, a condition attributable, it is believed, to continuous planting in the snme spot. On account of this difficulty with the Illy from Bermuda this country’s trade has been transferred in large part to Japan, some of whose Islands now supply the larger part of the American trade in Enster lilies. Easter lilies are shipped into the larger cities of the East, such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, during the months of July and August. Etfch of those cities receive hundreds of thousands of bulbs annually and distribute them to the trade, the larger florists taking from leu thousand to fifteen thousand bulbs a season. The price of the bulbs is in the neighborhood of a hundred dollars a thousandThe florist loses no time in planting his precious freight in a temperature where only the root will start. To obtain perfectly healthy American stock from which to make its experiments in bull) culture in. this country the department of agriculture some years ago planted the seed of the lillum longlflorum,/which Is the botanical name of our familiar Easter lily. From this planting there resulted several pounds of seed, with which experiments were made in sections of Florida. Mississippi, the state of Washington, Texas and California. The result has been the production of stronger, healthier and handsomer Easter lilies than can be grown from import* ed bulbs. Federal experimentation proves that climatic and soil conditions in southern California are such as to favor the production of the finest Easter lilies In the world. - The department of agriculture is also expending its efforts upon other plants, whose bulbs and roots are imported each year at a cost of nearly three million dollars to supply the Easter trade. These include hyacinths, tulips and narcissi, with the decorative

He Did Rise!

t The disciples believed In. the resurrection of Christ because It had actually taken place. No other account of their belief has ever been given which commends itself to the common understanding that accepts what appeals to It. No account of the belief has been given which Is at all likely to

azaleas, rhododendrons, lilacs and other blossoms, which are brought to the zenith of tlvelr glory at Eastertide. After a series of tests made by the department of agriculture in various states it has been found that tulips, narcissi and hyacinths can best be produced in this country In certain parts of the Pacific coast, these being northwest Washington and northwest California, and that there are areas In those states extensive enough to supply all the bulbs this country needs, with soil and climatic conditions even more favpfable for the culture of “Dutch bulbs” than the Haarlem bulb district of Holland. Said one of the scientists of the department of agriculture in a recent talk on the subject of bulb culture In America for the homo trade: "One of the main deterrent factors with those who contemplate entering the business in this country, where it seems probable they can produce a better article (linn the imported, is thnt of the extensive hand labor ns yet necessitated in bulb culture. The biggest job in this connection is digging. As the business expands, however, it is more than likely that the American farm Implement manufacturer will provide machinery to overcome this need, as he has in the past overcome every other obstacle In farm operation. Of late It Is reported that machinery Is coming into use even in Holland to a limited extent In bulb culture on account of the scarcity of labor due to war conditions.” , Whether due to the war, or to a knowledge of the tendency on the part of the United States to keep its bulb trade at home, n number of Holland and Belgium bulb and decorative plant growers have emigrated to the Pacific const and entered the business with a view to assisting in the American supply of Easter flowers. One grower of azaleas nnd nrnuenrlas who came from Ghent In Belgium is endeavoring to establish this business In California. He made the statement to the effect that he found conditions here superior to those in Belgium. One great advantage, he finds, is that plants hud here fully several weeks before they finish budding In Ghent, enabling them to be form* for the early American market. He states that America Imports annually between two and three millions of decorative pinnts. Including rhodf»dendrons. azaleas, hollies, boxwoods

gain currency or which is more credible than thnt which It seeks to supplant. The belief in the resurrection which so suddenly and effectively possessed the first disciples remains unexplained by any .other supposition than the simple one [that the Lord did rise again.—Moule.

Lily Dedicated to the Virgin.

The white lily has in the symbolism of the Church been dedicated to the Virgin because of its purity. The lily was used by the Angel of the Annunci-

THE EVENTXG REPTTBTJCAX. RENSSELAER. INI).

and araucarias, all of which can be produced here In commercial quantities at a cost which will defy competition, provided the transcontinental railways will encourage the development of right rates, which will enable dealers to use the home-grown products. There is one widely used Easter flower, formerly imported from Holland, which has been thoroughly established in this country, having been brought to bloom in sufficient quantity to supply the entire demand. This is the freesia, prized by florists and people alike as a beautiful and fragrant Easter blossom. A talk with one of the horticultural experts of the department of agriculture resulted in some interesting facts concerning the feesia. “The plant Is a native of South Africa,” he said, “but had been commercially grown in. Holland up to about fifteen years ago, when It was found that it, could be produced here more satisfactorily than it could be Imported. We have produced strains larger and finer and very much belter fitted for our use than the original flower. It has been developed in Florida. to some extent in Georgia, but to the greatest extent in California, where it Is cultivated in great, sweetscented fields In Santa Ana, Santa Barbara. Pasadena and San Gabriel. These towns are the center of our home-grown freesia, now thoroughly Americanized and supplying our entire trade. “The original colors of the freesia were white, known ns ‘Purity,’ and a rather lurid yellow, but about fifteen years ago a few plants of a pale pinktinted species. knoWn as ‘Freesia armstrongii,’ were found In Natal, South Africa. It was a small, lilac pink flower, hut scentless. This species seems to be extremely rare In nature and It was eagerly seized upon by propagators In different parts of the world. “Italy. France. Holland, England and this country all procured specimens, nnd by hybridizing and intercrossing the seedlings a great range of beautiful colors have been produced. They run from cream to golden, yellow on one hand, and to pale pink and llgjhf crimson on the other, and even a blue has been developed. These varieties are still scarce, bat they are known to the trade, which has termed them ‘rainbow freeslas.’ They exhale a delicate apricot-like fragrance.

ntion. There Is a legend that when the Blessed Virgin was walking In the garden of Zacharias. whither she used to go to meditate on £he message of the angel, she touched a flower that hitherto had no fragrance. Thereafter, it gave forth a sweet perfume. It was these “Madonna lilies” thnt burst Into bloom at Easter dawn. After her as sumption her tomb, according to pious legend, was filled with lilies and rose* to allay the doubts of St. Thcmas.

Jamn is short of steel.

CAMERAMAN AWAITING THE EXPLOSION OF GERMAN SHELLS

The photographer with moving picture camera is standing patiently waiting to plcturize the explosions of Ger* man shells in the valley below, as Teuton gunners situated over the hilltop have just found the range.

Make Fortunes by Smuggling

Traders Run Goods From Finland Into Sweden, Bringing Enormous Returns. AIDED BY FRONTIER LAXITY Haparanda Is the Dawson of Sweden's New Klondike Where Gold and Wine Flow Freely—Typical Night Scene. o Tornea, Russia. —The Tornea river is frozen over again and business is good in smugglers’ haven. From far up in the Arctic tuiidra of Lapland down to ice-tilled Tornea bay, 30 miles south of the circle, sledges drawn by reindeer, dogs and ponies are crunching across the river by night, laden to the runners with tea, coffee, rubber and sugar, all bound for I Sweden, where they are worth almost j their weight in gold. Their sources are Russia and Finland, and their immediate destination Haparanda, on the Swedish side of the Tornea river, where ex-sailors, hotel waiters and a typical collection of frontier town types are making money hand over fist and drinking champagne for breakfast. Haparancla is Swedish, as different from war distracted and revolutionridden Russian, Tornea as if it were hundreds of miles away, instead of being separated only by a ten-minute sleigh ride in winter and a ten-minute ferry trip in summer, across the milewide, salmon-filled river. Haparanda Is the Dawson of the new Klondike, and its gold comes from sledges that slip by the Russian frontier guards,’ full of the commodities Sweden needs. It is nearly Arctic, and in the heart of winter, there is daylight only five hours. Frontier Customs Post Before the war Haparanda was a tiny village, a frontier customs post The Russian frontier gendarmes were vigilant and those who slipped through from Finland with smuggled goods were very few and far between, and there was less incentive to smuggle, for Sweden imported freely from across the seas. The war made Tornea the rival of Archangel and Vladivostok as a port of entry into Russia. Haparanda shared the gain. Business buildings of wood and a large hotel that looks like a typical American small town hall sprang up almost overnight. It is still growing. The goose that lays the golden egg that buys wine and keeps the poker games going lives over in Finland, which, although short of food itself, permits millions of kroner worth to slip through every month. A year ago a Swedish preacher, on an innocent mission, was shot by a Russian frontier guard. The trouble that resulted led to almost complete laxity at the frontier, and now on any dark night scores of sleighs slip across the river, unmolested, and deposit their cargoes on the Swedish side. Some of the goods go through the Swedish customs houses, and the duty is paid. Even with the Swedish duty there is tremendous profit on the shipments. Coffee that the Finnish agents secure for ten kroner a kilo (2.20 pounds) brings 20 across the frontier. Small boys, muffled In great overcoats, waddle across the river on skiis with rubber tires for automobiles wrapped around their waists—and rubber is the most difficult of all commercial products to obtain Ib Sweden. Its export from Russia Is forbidden. “Gay White Way” Always Filled. The smugglers are the richest, but Haparanda's “Gay White Way”—the hotel —Is filled always with other spenders. Here is a typical picture 6f any night In Hapgranda when business Is good on the Tornea. The coffee room Is crowded early. A Serbian “kappelmeister” tunes up his violin. A young Austrian with a bass viol and three plump, smiling German girls, with mandolins, the rest of the orchestra, play American ragtime. Swedish barmaids hurry about with champagne and other wines, just as expensive. A young Swede, with a blank-look-ing face, who has just made 10,000

kroner on a coffee deal, is spending It, buying for every one who will accept. At a corner table, ,tips.v hut dignified, a group of Swedish officers stiffly reject such familiarity. At the other tables are Russian officers, in civilian clothes, who have slipped across from prohibition Tornea to make a night of it; Finnish smugglers, over for the same purpose, and perhaps a dozen Englishmen, Americans or Frenchmen, jus£ escaped’ from Russia's troubles and stopping until the night train for Stockholm, all glad for a breath of ga.vety in a neutral town. This is any night—but on “punch days,” the three days each month when it is permitted to sell britndy and other spirits, the line of sledges that cross the Tornea is continuous, and in the bedlam of noises the “knppelmeister” and his players cannot make themselves heard. So they make it unanimous and join the crowd.

PLANS TO DROP BOMBS NEAR DAD’S OLD HOME

Madison, Wis. —“I’m going to fly back to Berlin, where you came from, dad, and drop n bomb somewhere near your old home.” That’s the way Lloyd A. Lehrbass, a student in the course in journalism at the State University, informed his father that he had enlisted in the aviation service of the United States Army. The father’s reply to the message was: “God bless you, son. * I’m proud of you.” Lehrbass’s father was born in Berlin, but came to America with his parents when only four years old.

MACHINES SPOUT SHELLS AND GUNS

Monster Creations of Steel and Concrete to Help Crush Kaiser. SOLVES THE SPEED PROBLEM Lathe Turns and Bores Bhells With Extreme Rapidity—Giant Planer First Metal Working Machine Built of Concrete and Iron. Chicago.—While the entire country has been clamoring for quicker action in furnishing munitions for war purposes, Chicagoans have been quietly solving the problem of how to produce the maximum number of big guns and shells in, the shortest possible time. As a result, Chicago has become an active center for the manufacture of machinery for smashing Von Hindenburg’s defenses.

The first of the newly Invented machines being made here is a lathewhich turns and bores shells with extreme speed. The second is a machine for boring big guns of any size or length, and the third is a planer of record-breaking size; The planer is built of concrete and iron and is tjie first metal-working machine that has ever been built of that combination. It Is the biggest machine of its kind In the world. These machines are so unusual In construction, and can be built with such speed that the methods of manufacture have attracted wide attention among experts. Saves Two Years' Delay. Machinery used for war purposes formerly was made so slowly that it wotiid be impossible to supply with It the present demand for quick construction. An attempt to build the big planar, of iron, according to. regulation methods, would have meant a delay of at least two years. The machine,for boring guns Is 80 feet long and weighs 60 tons. But it can be placed in the mammoth planer, which has a bed 184 feet long and weighs much more than 2,500,000 pounds. The Inventor of the machines is

FATHER, HUSBAND AND SON

Loyal Woman Experiences War Hor- , rors Thrice and Knits —-- Right On. Helena, Mont. —Four wars have tool the life of Mrs. W. C. Almon, but sh* struggles bravely to do her hit In thin the greatest struggle. « Mrs. Almon, who Is seventy-three years old. Is a citizen of Fairmont, Mont., and is here visiting her son. W. S. Almon. Jr., a prominent merchant. When she was two years old. her father left their Illinois home to fight the Mexicans. He returned safely, but when the Civil war broke out he again enlisted and was killed at Vicksburg. Mrs. Alrnon’s husband —then her fiance —served in the same regiment. Mrs. Almon was a Woman’s Relief corps leader during the Spanish war. giving both her money and her time to the cause. Now she is here to bid goodhy to her son who shortly goes to the front In the aviation corps. And shb knits right on. *

LARGE FEET GETS HIM OFF

Negro Is Discharged From Army Because of Enormous Pedal Extremities. San Antonio, Tex.—Private Ivey Cleveland, negro. Twelfth company. Third battalion, One Hundred and Six-ty-fifth Depot brigade. Camp Travis, is going back to the Brazos “bottoms.” where shoes are not essentiaL He will take with him an honorable discharge, as Re has the biggest feet of any man who ever trod the pardde ground at Camp Travis. He arrived at the ramp wearing a pair of No. 14 brogans, which were too small. By and by Cleveland’s No. J4’s began to wear out, and army officers tried to find a shoe to ftt him. They tried a pair of No. 12, double E shoes, but Cleveland could not begin to get his feet in them. Rather than go to the expense of having shoes made at • cost of sls or S2O. Private Ivey wa» given his honorable, discharge.

4 Lucien I. Yeomans, a nephew of Grover Cleveland. He is the only machinist the family has produced since the days when one of his ancestors made * muskets for the Revolutionary army. Four of the big planes are being built and one is almost finished, although the drawings for it were not ready until Christmas day. Instead of requiring two years for the work, the first machine will be working within two months from the time its foundations were dug. Can Handle Big Cannon. Each of the planers costs $85,600. As all the material upon which they work will be extremely heavy two • traveling cranes are being put up nearby. * The/boring machines which are to be made on the planers can handle a cannon 38 feet long and having a caliber of 14 or 16 inches, close to the limit'of heavy ordinance. Several thousand of the shell making machines Jiave been produced. Each of*- these machines can turn and bore a shell in from 15 to 20 minutes and is usuully run 24 hours a day. One company has just placed an order for more than 100 of these machines, a second,, ordered 75, and a third 80. They make the American & and 8incli shells and the British 9.2-inch shells. The French are the same size as the American. . ’ These machines turn out shells that are meant only for high explosives. The shop In which these machine!! are being made was built in 18 days and great speed has marked every step in the work. The machines weigh tea tpns each and are sold at $3,000. Tbej! are to be turned out in immense uuio hers during the next few months.

Girl Yell Leader.

Berkeley, Cal. —The junior class St the University of California has shah tered all precedent by electing a girl as yell leader. She is Miss Marion Sutton, ,and she received more than twice as many votes as her male adversary, J. F. White, who .declare* that many of the men of the class threw him down at the pells.