Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-07-03
Government Agent Discovers
Important New Variety OF
Upland Rice in China
TESTING MANY PLANTS AT AMEs
Special Plant Garden of the HorticuI-
turaI Department. Of Iowa State COL
Iese, is Interesting Place-New Fruit
Which Burbank Has Been Develop
ing, Found in Central China.
Special to Tim .s- Repub lican.


Amcs, July 3.-The farmers Of Iowa
may within few years be able to
raise rice enough to supply the mar
kets of the world. If the new variety
of upland rice which Mr. F. N. Meyer
has recently discovered in northern
China, does all that is expected Of 1t.
Mr.. Never is special seed and plant in
agent for the United States
department of agriculture He is In
Ames for a few days. on his way to
Washington from China, where he has
spent three years searching for vari-
cites OF plants that would be likely to
prove valuable If introduced into this
country. The upland rice has been
grown successfully in Manchuria for
years. The climate there Is much the
same as that OF the central corn belt
states, and there seems to be no rea-
son why 1t should not do well here as
soon as it becomes acclimated.
Testing Plants at Ames.
The horticultural department here
has special plant garden, where they
are testing some of the plants intro
duced by Mr.. Meyer and others
Among these are number of hardy
species Of apples and pears, which will
be valuable as q foundation stock for
breeding UP improved varieties adapt
ed to the northern part Of the state.
Another very interesting plant which
is growing on the grounds here, Is a
species Of dogwood, which in China,
takes the place of the Standard Oil
Company 1t is very rich in oil, which
the Chinese extract and use for illum-
mating purposes.
Many new and beautiful flowers are
also being tested-a yellow rose which
is to be used as a stock on which to
graft less hardy varieties. a unique
variety of hawthorne, and TALL bush
hydrangea which is thickly covered
with dainty white flowers. A valuable
food plant introduced by Mr. Meyer,
but which has not yet been tried here,
is the Pista,ho- nut. hardy nut which
somewhat resembles the almond.
Several new varieties Of beardless
oats and berley are being tested. The
barley especially gives promise Of be-
ing much superior to the old bearded
varieties. A variety Of hulless oats
comes from the cold mountains Of
northern China, where the snow does
not melt until June, and falls in Octo-
Der. These oats will be especially val
liable for the northern part OF the I'm
hay inc n.
cessfully as far north as Alaska.
Four Monsns in Korea.
Mr. Meyer tells some interesting
tales of his travels in search of plant
novelties. For four months he was in
northern Korea without seeing a white
man. Three months Of that time he was
without bread, and for three weeks he
had nothing to eat but boiled oats.
There were, no hotels and no beds. One
night he tried to sleep on q seventy
foot Chinese brick bed. In company
with sixty Cinnamon. During that
night he captured eight distinct kinds
of bugs. After that he carried cot
with him. and by putting the legs in
saucers Of OIL was able to sleep in
comparative peace. The Chinese have
over twenty different languages. so
that It was necessary to change inter-
peters with almost every days jour-
ney. The money changes even oftener
than the languages. Most Of the money
consists of chunks of silver stamped
with Chinese characters. During part
of the tri1, Mr.. Meyer found it neces-
sary to have a special mule to carry
his money.
Mr.. Meyer found in central China
three varieties of the "plumcot," the
new fruit which Luther Burbank has
spent so much time in developing in