The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-12-31
4 GARDEN Of BUCKETS
YIELDS HANpsoME RETURNS TO
PHILADELPHIA cHlNAMAN.
Lee Ling Raises Lie choy used In
Chop suey and other Native
Dlshes--No Wedding Has
to Be Done.


Philadelphia. garden Of buckets
in which vegetable product is raised
in Ave days and d crop produced
every day in the year is carried on In
Philadelphia's Chinatown by Lee Ling.
The garden consists of 80 cedar buck
cts and in them Lee raises. at profit
Of TOO per cent, a product called liza
choy, or II chow, which is largely used
In Chinese cooking.
Lees garden Is one on which the
sun never shines There Is no tilling
Of the soil, for there is no soil;
neither is there any wedding, for
weeds have no opportunity to grow.
Water is the agency which makes
things thrive in the garden. Lila choy
is sprouts from tiny Chinese bean.
These beans are Imported. They
are about the size of a small pea and
have hard. shiny olive green shell.
The sprouts from the beans are as
white as the most perfect bleached
celery and have sweet, spicy taste
that savors Of the artichoke or tender
spring radish. At their highest stage
of development they are about three
or four inches long and as thick as an
ordinary lead pencil.
Whoever has eaten chop suey or
yockamain in Chinese restaurant has
eaten liza choy, for these and many
other dishes prepared by the orientals
can scarcely be served without IL.
But the garden in which liza choy
is grown by Lee Ling is the interest
ing thing. Side by side in the corner
of long, dark room so wooden buck
cts with battened tops are arranged
Into two or three of these are put two
pounds of Chinese beans each.
The little green pellets are then
covered with lukewarm water and al
lowed to stand. Gradually they absorb
the water and by the end Of the first
day they have swelled to twice their
normal size. More water Is then
sprinkled over them and the covers OF
the buckets are replaced.
At the end OF the second day the
Jackets OF the beans have burst and a
tiny sprout appears. In the meantime
a fresh quantity of beans has been put
into two or three other buckets and
treated as in the first case. Every day
a new lot of seeds are planted in add
tional buckets, so that at all times
there are crops in various stages OF
development.
BY the end of the third day the
beans in the first buckets have sent
out sprouts an inch long, which begin
to curl and twist in every direction
The mass of vegetable matter has
swollen until the buckets are half full
Of what at first glance resembles lo
of coarsely chopped cabbage.
From this time forth cool spring
water is sprinkled over the sproutint
beans every few hours and the growth
gradually wells up in the buckets
until at the end of the fourth day thu
| vessel is filled with mass of cleal
| white shoots. The tops of the buckets
are fastened down and the sprouts
! turn, twist and interlace in the dark
ness.
Gradually the power exerted by thu
| growing shoots becomes such that 4
! is necessary to release the tops of tn,
pals. The liza choy then expands un
til the white curly mass extends fiv'
or SIX inches above the top of thu
| vessel.
From the bottom of the bucket Il
the very top OF the growth there 4
nothing but mass OF clean. crisp
white sprouts. The pals are thel
emptied and the sprouts are shaker
up and raked over by hand until the.
all lie as loose as so many straws II
a pile. The green shells of the bean
| are picked out and then the liza cho
Ia put In baskets and placed In tn
store for sale.
The buckets are put back In plac
and fresh beans are put into them. S
by planting in succession In the var
GUS vessels as the crops are comple
ell there is a never ending supply @
liza choy.
| The imported beans planted In tn
strange garden cost about Ave cents
pound. From the two pounds place
In a bucket about 16 pounds Of II
choy is grown. The product sells fo
five cents pound. Therefore on a
investment of ten cents Lee Ling 81
cures a salable commodity valued Q
so cents.
The demand for the vegetable
very great, the Chinese restaurant
using from 100 to 200 pounds da
each In week.