The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-03

CONDUCTED BY A CHINAMAN-
CROPS IN FIVE DAYS.

In It Ii Produced the Lila ChOy You May
Have Eaten I'm Chop suey sun Newer
shIne on It m No weeding Has ID
ne DOne-It's q Philadelphia Scheme.
PHILADELPHIA. Nov. "A garden Of
buckets in which a vegetable product Iis
raised in five days and a crop produced
every day In the year is carried on in Phila-
dslphia's Chinatown by Lee Ling. The
garden consists Of fifty cedar buckets and
in them Lee raises. at a profit of 700 per cent.
a product called liza choy or II chow. which
is largely used in Chinese cooking.
Lees garden is one on which the sur 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. Liza choy Is sprouts
from a tiny Chinese bean.
These beans are imported. They are
about the size Of a small pea and have q
hard. shiny olive green shell.
The sprouts from the beans are as white
as the most perfect bleached celery ard
have a sweet. spicy taste h at 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 az an
ordinary lead pencil.
Whoever has eaten chop suey or yocka-
main in a Chinese restaurant has eaten liza
choy. for these and many other dishesJpre-
pared by The Orientals can scarcely be
served without 1t. Asa result thousands OF
pounds of the product is used every week.
But the garden in which liza choy is grown
by Lee Ling is the interesting thing. Side
by side in the corner of a long, dark room
fifty wooden buckets 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 MkewRrm water and allowed 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 thee end Of the second day the jackets
OF the beans ave 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 additional buckets. 80 that ae
all times there ara 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 wha at first glance resembles
a lot Of coarsely chopped cabbage.
From this time forth cool spring water Ia
sprinkled over the sprouting beans every few
hours and the growth gradually wells up
in, the buckets until at the end OF the fourth
day tho vessel Is filed with a mass Of clear
white shoots. The tops OF the buckets are
fastened down and the sprouts turn. twist
and interiace In the darkness,
Gradually the power exertedb by the grow
ing shoots becomes such that n In necessary
to release the tops OF the pals. The ia
choy then expands until the white curly
mass extends five or six inches above the
top Of the vessel.
From the bottom OF the bucket to the
very top OF the growth there ls nothing but
a mass Of clean. crisp, whibe sprouts. The
pals are then emptied and che sprouts are
shaken up and raked over by hand until
they all lie as loose az so many straws In a
pile. The green shells OF the beans are
picked out and then the liza choy Ia put In
baskets and placed In the store for sale.
The buckets are put back In place and
fresh beans are put into them. So by plant
ing in succession in the various vessels as the
crops are completed there 10 a never ending
supply OF liza choy.
The imported beans planted In the strange
garden cost about S cents a pou1d. From
the two pounds placed in a bucket about
sixteen pounds OF LA choy ls grown. The
product sells for Ave ocnts a pound. There
fore on an investment OF 10 cents Lee Ling
SECURES q ralable commodity valued at
% conta.
The demand for tho vegetable 10 very
great. tho Chinsge restaurants using from 100
'Ao2po poUnda kdaHs each ~ iHeak-