The Omaha
Bee.
FART THREE
UNDAY
ADVERTISE IN THE
OMAHA DEE
BEST IN THE WEST
HALF-TONE
PACES 1 TO 4.
VOL. XXXVIII NO. 38.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCTI 7, 1909.
SINGLE COPY FIVE GENTS.
GROWING LILIES AND OTHER FLOWERS FOR THE MARKET
Greenhouses in Omaha District Represent Thousands of Dollars Invested, Give Steady Employment to Hundreds and Furnish Delicate Flowers to City Dwellers from Chicago to Pacific Coast
CONSIDER TUB LILIES," also the millions of other
beauteous plants and flowen that will soon bo seen
everywhere In great profusion. In the fullness of
their beauty and the extravagance of their fragrance
they have really much more meaning than-we are
la the habit of attaching to them. Much work, great cost, and
many rough and homely accessories go to the production of flow
ers that can be cut and sold In the market. Their value runs
way np Into the thousands.
Omaha and Its Immediate vicinity may with Justice be spoken
of aa a center for the production of flowers. Chicago is a great
producer and a great consumer, but from this section Chicago
receives many a Tich consignment, and sends to us many a check
In return therefor.
When one sees 10,000 to 20,000 roses and carnations In retail
florist shops like those of Henderson, Hess & Swoboda. Donahue
and others in Omaha. Wilcox And Herman Bros. In Council
Bluffs, the question springs np
In the mind, where do all these
flowers got Yet 20,000 roses
and carnations disappear daily
from any of these headquartree
for floral furnishings as rapidly
aa they can be handled. Ordi
nary bouquets, wedding pieces,
armfuls, sprays, funeral pieces,
hospbal gladdeners these take
veritable oceans of cut flowers,
ven at this season of the year.
And this is the "off crop" time
for roses. Hundreds of thou
sands of separate flowers con
stitute the dally consumption In
a city like Omaha alone.
Glass and soil mainly are the
base of the cut flower business.
But steel. Iron, wire, lumber
from the north and the south
woods there are thousands
and thousands of feet of these
materials used In the hothouses.
Then there are the fertilizers,
beef blood Insecticides, tobacco,
nicotine, pepper, ton on ton;
and millions of tons of water
consumed In bringing to the
critical market a perfect, or
even an acceptable, flower.
and funeral orders, as do others, for a terrrltory having a radius
of 300 miles.
Roses and carnations are the mainstay of the flower market
from day to day; and here It may be noted tbat specialists at
tend to each particular kind of flower in the houses. One man
spoken to about carnations while he was picking black leaves off
rose bushes, said In the most matter-of-fact way, "I don't know
anything about carnations." Roses cost at different seasons from
S to 12 cents apiece, often more; and carnations will average
two-thirds the price of roses.
"Teas," as the florists call' them, are most numerously prop
agated and grown. There be RIchmonds, Mme. Chatneys, brides
and bridesmaids, and Klllarneys', a breed from the famous lake
of song and story, to name a few. These have strong roots, with
lota of branches. The American Beauty is a hybrid, and the hybrids
have nothing In the way of a root but fine, hairy toeholds, as
It were.
favorites of the general public, roses and similar prize products
of nature's laboratory must be especially cherished in tholr own
home and habitat at times of danger. Thus alone can the bride
have her happiness enhanced by flowers, the dreariness of hos
pital life be relieved, the sweetheart drawn closer, and the sad
ness of death be lightened. The flowers are cut and die that
human joy may be heightened from day to day.
What do flowers cost to put on the market? Even the best
posted men assert that is a poser. Steel, wire, lumber, glass,
fertilisers and Insecticides, cost heavily. Such a plant as Mr.
Wilcox conducts requires 6,000 tons of coal a year. Several others
use half to two-thirds as much, snd burning coal runs Into
money. The bill for glass reaches a substantial figure each year;
and every single house of ordinary size probably represents a
cost of $2, 00 when completed and stocked. Iron pipe, wire,
lumber, water, attendance, working tools, wagons and horses,
store rent, all count In the aggregate bill before the florist be-
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ROSB3 HOUSE AT HERMAN'S
CARNATION HOUSE AT HERMAN'S.
Is flower growing easyt Not so easy as clipping coupons, or
riding on a street car, or playing ball not even as easy as saw
ing wood, according to some men who ought to know. To begin
with, eternal attention Is the price of flowers, any flowers at
all. fhe plants must be watched constantly, and treated per
sistently, either with fertilizer or with Insect killers. The house
kept freest from Insects of the dangerous kind Is, of course, the
best flower house.
When the earth Is changed In the. mllea of long boxes one
each year, there Is a wholesale throwing away of plants; but those
of extra good vitality or promise are kept, cut back, and. re
planted. So In the breeding of finest flowers, selection is con
tinually going on by experts. Only thus are the extraordinary
specimens of chrysanthemums and other peculiar flowers pro
duced. While It may seem common enough, the labor employed In green
houses Is really of a highly skilled order. There must be an
understanding of flowers, their
ways and habits, a large stock
of patience and an ability to
take pains much beyond the or
dinary. As a rule, natives of
other lands, and their sons, are
the most successful In flower
raising, and they practically
have a monopoly of the busi
ness.' Probably a score of persons
and flrrus are actively engaged
In the growing .of flowers as a
business in Omaha and South
Omaha; and in Council Bluffs
about half a dozen. In addi
tion to these, our florist pointed
out that several hundred pri
vate conservatories must be
taken Into consideration when
the extent of this business is
being discussed. Most of the
private conservatories are very
small, but there are maybe a
dozen that grow flowers on a
fairly extensive scale.
The Omaha florists who have
smaller or larger areas under
glass and raise flowers for the
' market, wholesale or retail, are
C. W. Bondy, on Military
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EASTER LILIES AT HESS
Xcrea of carefully prepared, and as carefully tended, soil are
nnder class In the environs of Omaha and Council Bluffs. To
apeak In terms, there are upward of 1,000,000 square feet of
double strength glass spread on the frames of the greenhouses
hereabout. It is bought by the carload by every florist of any
pretensions, and cornea from KanBas, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
wherever glass is made. Modern greenhouses are largely of
ateel construction, and there are systems of ventilation perfected
specially for this business, with clever mechanical contrivances
for raising and lowering the Bhlnlng upper sections of the great
flower nurseries.
How many among the ordinary ran of citizens know that once
during each year the earth In these acres of boxes has to be
shoveled np and carried outdoors, to be replaced by other soil
which has been prepared with the most extreme care. Soil that will
be removed from the boxes say In July next will be spread out
doors oa reserve ground and will be sown to grass or grain. It
may lay so, tinder seed, for five or six years before It Is brought
Ijack again to the boxes; but It will come back In good time
and thus there Is a continual changing of soil and a progression of
learning that the successful florist must hare. In this business,
of all others, care and work, work and care, are the foundation
and the keystone.
Florists have to do with burglars and sneak thieves, too;
not of the kind that are locked up when caught, but that must
be killed. Their slaughter goes on . hourly, and all the year
round. Mr. Trip and Mr. Red Spider are the two particular un
desirable visitors that the florists must guard against and murder
on sight. Trip Is very, very small, but Red Spider Is even smaller,
and to be able to know him next time you see him you must do
the Bertlllon stunt with a magnifying glass. Trip, be goes Into
the flower while It is In bud, If he Isn't headed off, and saps the
petals. Red Spider, he makes his unlawful camp on the under
side of leaves, and proceeds to his work of sure destruction, until
a bnsy man comes along with a hose spouting water under heavy
pressure, which be directs to the location where Red Spider has
ensconced himself. It the water be real cold. It stuns the Infinites
si mat outlaw, as It does also Trip; but to paralyze the miscreants
entirely, preparations of tobacco and pepper are used.
No florist anywhere In this vicinity can meet the demand, as
a rule. One man was asked if he kept ahead of the public de
mand, 'and with a half sarcastic smile he queried, "Why do you
suppose we are always building new houses?" For example, Hess
ft Swoboda of Omaha, wljl this season build three new houses
at their plant. They will be longer than an ordinary block and
will be twenty-seven feet wide. Wilcox of Council Bluffs, has
400,000 feet of glass over his flower beds, and he hasn't enough
yet. Henderson of Omaha Is every year putting more money
Into greenhouses and the same is true of Herman Bros., of
Council Bluffs, and of every other professional florist.
Before leaving Wilcox, it may be Interesting to know that
he has the greatest conservatories In the west, on the flat and
terraced; 25.000 rut flowers every day Is a conservative esti
mate of his production. Where do they go? Omaha geta a
great msny, and so do Kansas City, St. Joseph, St. Louis. Min
neapolis. St. Paul. Denver, Chicago, Salt Lake City. Seattle. In
Spokane, Wash., be flnda a great market for rosebuds, which
are there metallized into the natural flower hatpins that we see
today la the Jewelry and department stores.
At this season of the year,
when rosea are "off crop" to a
great extent, much attention is
dwvoted to Easter lilies. In the
Wilcox houses one will see
10,000 pots of these plants, and
In the other houses the number
will range from 1,000 to 6,000.
A
S' A 7hK OV-X' v''V1. '&&VSz& .?Tv-- :ST-? '
ft SWOBODA'S. '"'"Zm "ifif'
PICKING "BLACK SPOTS" HESS ft SWOBODA'S GREENHOUSE
Inviting a visitor to see his Easter
lily preparations, Lewis Henderson said, "Come on Into the hot box."
Such It was, too, for the person unused to so much damp heat. But
the first of April draws on apace, and shortly after that date the
pure white emblems of the glorious EaBter time must be ready for
the demand that is becoming stronger every year. Just now the
Easter lily plants are flush with the tops of the pots, a ranked army
of shimmering green, but under the stimulus of heat and water
Judiciously used they will soon take on the required growth.
Some are budding Into entrancing loveliness already.
Specializing in flowers is the bent of some growers, as In the
case of Paul B. Floth, whose houses are at Thirty-first and
Burt. Carnations are his big specialty, and he has won many
prizes for his exhibits In that line. Herman Bros, devote a great
deal of attention to chrysanthemums In their season, and they
supply a heavy demand from Chicago and other places that want
the mop-like masses of color when they are as big as plates and
as noisy as they can possibly be made. Perfect 'mums are hard
to grow.
Prowling around the greenhouses of. Hess & Swoboda one gets
most delightful whiffs of violets, and under low sashes we dis
cover a whistling boy pktklng bunches of the delicious little
plant that lovers and ladles delight in. Several thousand violets a
day are picked from the Hess & Swoboda beds, and many thousands
more go to the market from the other conservatories.
Pictures herewith were taken. It must be remembered, when
roses and carnations beds are almost flower less. To find them
actually ablaze with the eye-filling beauty of growth that bursts
and spreads with fragpent abandon, one must get to the con
servatories before the scissors-men get busy in the early morn
ing, or else in the late afternoon. Retail counters must be
filled with cut flowers while the world Is JuBt beginning to
stir Into the active life of each day, and this makes It necessary
for the superintendent and bis men to cut and carry away the
finest buds and blooms before breakfast time. The last available
rose, and almost the last available carnation, are wanted out In
the world; hence they are minus In the houses, unless one
times a visit with certainty as to the hour.
. Continuous, systematic and educated work Is the rule In the
big flower-growing expanses that are seen here and there In
the open landscape; and night work Is sometimes as needful
as day work. On the night of the recent memorable blow, when
the wind was ripping things front and sideways, every master florist
was awake to stay. At the Henderson houses, just below the
Omaha line in South Omaha, the proprietor was holding onto
the iron frame work of one of his houses, with another man Rang
ing onto his feet; and by main force and weight they prevented
damage that would have been exceedingly heavy. Here, and in
every other flower bouso exposed to the wind, shattered panes
of glass had to be replaced with others, or with paper, card
board, anything and everything that would protect thousands of
He fills weddingdelicate plants, potent in earning power, from freezing. Cherished
lng with the season and the de
mand. First cost for land
and greenhouses must also be taken Into consideration, say
the florists. Taken altogether, tne dozen or more pro
fessional flower growers of Omaha and Council Bluffs have a very
large Investment In the glass houses, whose owners never In
dulge In the pastime of throwing stones.
CARNATION BEDS AT HENDERSON'S.
gins to get his profit. Neces- avenue, near Forty-fifth street; H. C. Caretens, Forty-sixth
aarlly then, fine flowers cost and West; Alfred Donaghue, North Twenty-fourth and
money when they are wrapped Fort; Charles Ederer, corner Bristol and North Thirtieth; S. R.
for your pleasure at the flower Faulkner, on South Fortieth; P. B. Floth, North Thirty-first and
counter, the retail price vary- Burtis.Lewls Henderson, Twenty-fifth and G, South Omaha; Hess &
Swoboda, North Twenty-fourth and Hlmebaugh avenue; Ammett
Hodge, South Twentieth avenue and Thirty-fifth; Hruban Bros,,
South Twenty-ninth and Dorcas; .Hans Jensen, Leavenworth and
Forty-fifth; Paul Kosack, Bprague, near Twenty-fourth; Paul Paul
son, Browne, near Seventeenth; Peterson Bros., South Fifteenth and
Spring; S. B. Stewart, Kansas avenue and Thirty-fourth; George
Zlmmer, Twenty-third and Fort
Mexican Beauties in Old City of Tehuantepec
0
NE of the most Interesting places on
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the
old Indian city of Tehuantepec, about
which comparatively little Is known
by the people in the United States. It Is
famed up and down the Pacific coast from
Panama to California as the abode of the
most beautiful Indian women living.
These women are noted for their beauty,
fine figures and peculiar style of dress. Their
dress consists of two pieces, one a loose
blouse cut low at the neck, rather short
waUted and without sleeves, which shows
their beautiful rounded arms. The other
garment Is a piece of many-colored cotton
wound around the hips and fastened to the
waist; It reaches nearly to their bare ankles.
The women of the more well-to-do fami
lies try to conform to civilized notions on
Important occasions by wearing a real skirt
made of two pieces of cloth. The upper
part, reaching about to the knees. Is of the
usual colored cotton, but the lower part Is
of white cotton, and Is so fastened to the up
per part that It can be removed for the
purpose of washing.
Sometimes sandals are worn, but more
often not. On special occasions the women
wear a peculiar headdress called a hulpll
(pronounced wee-peel). It Is made usually
of white cotton. 'One portion might be
termed a collar, another the neck and the
third portion fails over the shoulders and
arms. The collar part is very wide, some
times from one end one-half to two feet,
starched and pleated.
The headdress is pulled over the bead
like a sweater and the collar portion Is then
arranged so that it encloses the face, not the
neck, and the wide-pleated part flares out
from the face In all directions, which to an
American gives a grotesque appearance to
ire. Another way of wearlDg It la
thefigur
simply to rest It over the forehead, allowing
the lower portion to hang down the back,
while the collar flares up and back from the
head as before. To see several women on
the street wearing it reminds one of a flock
of mammoth sea gulls with their wings all
flapping at once.
There are Indian families of this qneer
old cities who are reputed to be wealthy,
yet they stick to their old customs and dress
and live practically the same lives their an
cestors did, and hardly ever leave their na
tive town. A good deal of their wealth is
put Into Jewelry for the women and the prin
cipal article of Jewelry Is strings of gold
beads.
The beads are roughly beaten out by na
tive workmen and on these strings of beads
are hung American gold coins. Sometimes
as many as a dozen or fifteen coins are so
used. Often two or three strings of beads
are worn at the same time. The smaller
gold pieces are strung on near the neck and
larger ones are put on further down, while
at the bottom of the string of beads, which
reaches to the waist, will be hung one or
two double eagles.
Some of the strings have three or four
two and a half, several five, several ten and
one or two twenty-dollar gold coins; so that
these strings of beads with the gold coins
are worth from $100 to $500 Mexican ($50
to $250 gold) each. There are also neck
laces that fit theaeck rather tightly made
from American gold dollars. Sometimes to
such a necklace Is attached a pendant set
with diamonds and other precious stones.
Ihe city baa a population estimated at
from 10,000 to 20,000. The bouses are
built of odobes, usually one story high, and
form three sides of a square. As you enter
from the street through a gate In the high
fence you find yourself in the patio or court
yard, which Is thirty or forty feet square.
The house has a veranda extending around
Its three sides. The living room and the
kitchen are In the center part and the bed
rooms In the wings.
The floors are of stone or hard-pressod
dirt, the walls bare and there Is very little
furniture. In two of the rooms of a house
we were in there were only three chairs, a
table and a bedstead; In one of the rooms
the only furniture was a chair and the bed
stead. We went to this house to see some
strings of beads and necklaces '. and were
shown half a dozen or more, worth probably
$1,000, so that the family was comparatively
wealthy, while appearances indicated that It
was poor.
The poorest classes lire tn the outskirts
of the city In huts loosely built of bamboo
poles and sticks and the roofs thatched with
banana leaves and straw. Frequently two
or more families live In a one-room hut. The
children of tho poorer people run around
naked. It Is a mystery how they all man
age to lire. y
- It la an ordinary atght to see the women
and children going in bathing from the
sandy beach of the river that flows past and
near the city. They do not wear bathing
suits.
The railroad crosses a bridge on the edge
of the city and the bathers are plainly seen
from the car windows. And yet these peo
ple are the most moral of Indians, and they
have not Intermarried with other Indian
tribes or with the Spanish. Mexicans, Japa
nese and Chinese, as have the Indians of
Central America and some other parts of
Mexico.
The women always carry on their beads
whatever bundles or packages they haw to
carry. For this reason they are unustrally
(Continued on Page Three.)