Petals of Peace

As Holy Week began, Easter lilies were scarce in U.S. floral shops, as they were last year, but no more expensive ($7.50 to $12 a dozen, or $2.50 to $6 & up for a potted plant). U.S. horticulturists had barely begun to fill the demand left when bulb imports from Japan stopped.

Lack of know-how, lack of labor, and a virus carried from plant to plant by an aphid left U.S. growers four or five years away from capturing a $20,000,000-a-year business. Imports of bulbs dropped off even before Pearl Harbor. Reason: the Japanese were eating the vitamin-rich bulbs, as they had done centuries before the West turned their flowers into symbols of the resurrection of the Prince of Peace.