BIRMINGHAM AQUARIUM COMPANY for Better Home Products — Birmingham, Ala. 
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce 
Prepared by Perkins J. Prewitt, Director of Publicity 
Birmingham, *the Industrial City Beautiful, where coal and iron and 
limestone lend themselves to the making of an industrial world, is now 
engaged in the propagation of fish and the growing of lily bulbs. 
And, as with everything else, on a big scale. 
It was but a short step from huge tanks—tanks that hold tons of 
water, oil and gas and almost every other known liquid—to aquariums. 
Vats for dipping cattle came first—back when the federal government 
first passed the anti-tick law. 
Then came— 
But what has all this to do with fish—and lily bulbs? Just this: Of 
the 2,000 articles manufactured by the more than 800 industries in Bir¬ 
mingham, alumninum aquariums, cast in many sizes and designs, have be¬ 
come somewhat synonomous with steel rails and wire nails—not exactly, 
but somewhat. This is where fish come in. 
The fish, in almost every shape, size and color (it being understood 
that we are not trolling for tarpon or casting for trout, or engaged in any 
strictly piscatorial pursuit), are hatched in the very shadow of the aquari¬ 
um foundry. So what fun! The Isaac Waltons don’t need to have it all. 
Everything from the flivver fish—that is, gold fish—to the most 
costly tropical fish is grown. Every color of the rainbow is matched and 
re-matched. Stamp collectors are simply not in it. Speaking of hobbies, 
of course. 
As for lilies (and of course other water plants), the manufacturers of 
the aquariums found that there was a real demand for water plants, and, 
also, that Birmingham could supply the market with bulbs some three to 
four months earlier than other sections of the country, in January as 
against March and April. So the growing lily bulbs became an art as well 
as the casting of aluminum aquariums. 
All of this, of course—that is, the growing of fish and lily bulbs—is 
made possible by a benign Dixie sun. Extreme cold weather seldom oc¬ 
curs, and freezing temperature rarely continues more than 48 hours . . . 
The summers are long and pleasant, never excessively hot. Rainfall is 
ample and well distributed. The temperature is reflected by the long grow¬ 
ing season (period between frosts), which ranges between 240 and 300 
days, depending on the section, and the year around outdoor working season 
for industries. 
Thus the lily bulbs and fish are accounted for: once they are brought 
into the land of the living, it is an easy matter for whoever wishes to raise 
them to do so—for, be it remembered, the aquariums are portable—like the 
potted hydrangia on your front porch—and can be moved in and out, to 
suit the temperature. 
Which brings one to this conclusion: The fish are still suckers if they 
don’t bite at this attractive bait, and the lilies—well, just consider 
“They toil not, neither do they spin” . . . but they certainly grow better in 
Birmingham-built aquariums. 
*T'he only place in the world so far as is known where these three necessary in¬ 
gredients for the making of iron are found in close proximity. 
