Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-14
<BUY1MG EDIBLE BArlBo0 SHOOTS.

After some difficulty in obtaining guides
willing to share the hardships of Man
churia with him, he now proceeded up
TO that northern region.
Land of B-igands and Wolves.
Powerful bands O. robbers who levied
blackmail on passers by were in posses
sion of the part of this territory which he
now traversed. One town. where he stop
ped with missionary, had lately been
besieged by these brigands for three days.
Delayed by dust storms on mountains
where beautiful peonieS and great snow
balls grew wild; stopping at filthy. YER
min-infested inns: craving clean water,
which he nowhere found; victimized by
his coolies, who pilfered his food, and de-
serted by guides who had demanded pay
in advance. the explorer had a strenuous
time in these Manchurian wilds Amid
the growlings of wolves in the entangle-
ments of underbrush he travelled in the
wake of a Wanderer whom the dreaded
hgLutses-the brigands afore mention
ed-had murdered a few days before, fur
Their ahead on the trail. But he went on
undaunted until below Liaoyang he be-
held the Thousand Peaks which he de-
Scribes as gigantic saw marked in blue
silhouette against the sky These are
the most denSely wooded mountains of the
world.
With two Chinese mule carts he next
crossed from Liaoyang to Antung. a ten
day trip over mountains and through val
leys. the people of the small villages en-
route collecting at the inns Ito see the
foreign beast who had just arrived
After he had reached northern Korea one
of his horses fell head over tall down a
precipice and a box of provisions was pre-
cipitated into the Yalu, 200 feet below.
'In less than no time was in the water"
he reports land with few strokes of
swimming 1t was in safety" In these ko-
cot oil
times covered by beautiful scarlet lilies he
saw giant apricot trees. sometimes ten
feet in circumference. and he obtained
seed of a red blackberry besides many
other novel plants. He next spent eight
days in Junk on the Yalu. the food
abominable and lie other conditions SO
insanitary that he contracted fever. His
next journey was to Vladivostok, where
his Chinese guide deserted him.
BY cart, by foot and by train he next
journeyed to Imam through a region filled
with tigers, wild boars, bears and wolves,
and where $50 people had been murdered
by outlaws in the ten previous months
Bloody Duel in the Night.
But the most thrilling incident of his
entire trip occurred after he had reached
Habarowsk, Siberia, where he was at
tackled by three desperadoes while he
was returning from a restaurant at S
o'clock at night. "All at once" he says.
Il heard some rustling behind me and
Immediately piece of cloth was drawn
round my throat They got me down on
the ground and l received q few heavy
blows on my head; but they did not
stun me. I returned the blows in the
faces of the two attackers (the third
kept watch and at an opportune mo-
ment l drew my large dagger and plunged
it into the stomach of the leader. on
which he uttered a cry and Immediately
al off rha nvf
morning the frozen corpse of a we'll
dressed man. evidently another victim
of the trio, was found POO feet from the
same spot
Edible Bamboo.
During the past few months this strenu-
Gus young man, who cannot find guides
able to keep up with his pace. has been
interested, primarily. in obtaining for
us cuttings of the wonderful edible and
timber bamboo of north China. The
shoots of certain Chinese bamboos af-
ford new food which. Mr.. Fairchild
tells me, we shoeild seriously consider in
tins country, where they can be grown
in the south and marketed in the north.
They taste somewhat liAu celery roots
but have a strictly characteristic flavor
of enjoyable crispness. They are one OF
the high-class vegetables or China, where
they are prime favorite among Ameri-
can tourists. They are generally served
IN d sort VI Stew.
In fact. he has gotten cuttings from
hundreds Of bamboos which will be useful
to us-some as stakes f6r vines or orange
trees, others as ornamental landscape
screens, others as temporary irrigation
pipes-these latter saving the expense of
making troughs or buying drain tile and
iron piping. Some of these bamboos
obtained in China will. Mr.. Fai.chtld
hopes. grow here as far north as Phila-
delphia.
Giant radishes. some sixteen inches in
diameter. which may be grown in this
country as better stock fodder than
turnips, are among the other hundreds
of novelties which Mr.. Meyer has sent
over. The Chinese jujube is still another
of thesa interesting importations. or
these plum-like fruits the orientals have
as many varieties as we have plums
and prunes. One form just sent over Is
three inches long. another is fiat and
still another is seedless. Then there
are scores of species of grains and
grasses and garden vegetables and freak
flowers and trees-some tiny dwarfs which
are no higher than your knee when TWEEN
ty years old.
JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS.