The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-11-15
VEGETABLE
NOVELTIES
Explorers Are All the Time Dis
covering New Plants With
Special Food Value
UDO, LIKE ASPARAGUS,
MIGHT GROW IN YAKIMA
Experiments With Peach Stock
May Result in Bringing About
Harder Orchards in This and
Other Districts


Other Districts
William Lee. Jr.. and other aspara-
gus growers of the valley will be in
terested in a japanese vegetable CALI
ed udo, which is somewhat similar to
asparagus and, according to David
FairChild, an agricultural explorer of
the United States Department of Ag-
riculture, deserves to rank as one of
the important vegetables of the world
Writing in the October number of the
National Geographic Magazine, Mr..
Fairchud included the udo among a
number of plant immigrants which he
dscu- 5es 1t can lie found in nearly
every Japanese market 1t is
blanched vegetable and unlike the
asparagus. of which only the tips are
edible, can be eaten right down to the
base without enCountering objection
able fibre. lido is a near relative of
the wild spkenard of New England,
but is much larger. 1t is eaten either
as Il salad, or cooked in much the
same way as asparagus. 1t is easy to
grow, does not require replanting Of
tencr than one in nine or ten years,
can be cropped in the spring or fall
and yields a large crop of shoots,
which are often two feet tall and an
inch or more in diameter ut the base.
Unexpected Territory
Mr. Fairchild says that the belief
ought no longer to hold that the food
problems OF the race are hung in the
balance of the great plains area OF
this country The food producing pow
er of the world Is still practically I'M
known. 1t may he that the plants
grown today for food will not always
be grown. Some of them are eXpen-
sive food producers, some hard to di
gest and some may be left behind
when others come into favor.
wild Peach of China
| For fourteen years This branch of
| the Department of Agriculture has
been experimenting with foreign
plants and their adaptation to the
| different sections of this country, also
their comparative food value. one Of
the experiments which will be of To-
cal interest is that dealing with The
| wild peach of China. 1t is a ~lO. *
W., ch will resist drought aud colt
1t is probably the prOgenitor or an
TIE cultivated peaches. Experiments
q now in progress to determine
what the peaches or this country viii
do when furnished with the roof sys-
tenn of the hardy peach from the
mountains of North China. At the
Chico plant Introduction garden in
California is a young orchard, every
tree of which is furnished with the
root system of the wild peach. The
statement has already been made that
this is the earliest stock for stone
fruits ever introduced into China The
orchard comprises plums apricots,
prunes and almonds as we'll as
peaches and the results of the eXpe-
riment will have an extensive bear
In. on the peach industry
Pcrsimmons are Valuable
Mr.. Fairchild also calls attention to
the fact that the persimmon as grown
in the Orient is quite different fruit
from that of the south in this coun-
try, which Is largely left to the opos-
sum. In Japan the persimmon indus
try Is nearly on a par with the orange
industry. The quicker is disposed Of
by packing the fruit in barrels satu-
rated with sake. II. c. Gore, of the
| Department of Agriculture, who is
| now working on the pcrsimmon prob
lem, is finding new methods of pro-
cessing so that it can be eaten hard
| like an apple. He sees no reason why
it should not become one of the great
fruits of the country.
| Secdless Grape
| The seedless grape is another inn
portation which is of local interest
and already some of the local vine-
yard keepers have provided them
selves with specimens. One of the
seedless varieties known as Sultanina
rosea, was discovered near an old
monastery in Padua. Because it is
bright rose colored and of fine fla
vor, it is being rapidly propagated
and planted in California.
Alfalfa Breeding
Some of the most elaborate eXpe-
riments of this department are with
the alfalfas. although alfalfa was
brought by the Persians into Greece
400 B. c." says Mr. Fairchild, there
was scarcely an acre in this country
sixt years ago. Today it is consid-
cred the best rough forage known
and there are over 100000 acres. OF
| it in the western hemisphere The
search for harder. drought -resistant,
winter growing. Understanding, heav-
Ter yielding varieties has taken eX-
plorors all over the world and this
search has attracted the attention OF
millions of people. As result, there
are now, in the Great Plains region,
breeding plots where are gathered for
the purpose of cross breeding and Sc
lection the principal alfalfa of the
world. The creation of entirely new
| forms, combining new characteristics,
has already begun and the effects viii
be as surel felt by this gigantic in
dustry as good mining has felt the dis.
coverY Of the cyanide process"
\ desert form of alfalfa. obtained
from Jesuit missionary in Mongo-
liza, is being experimental with I'm the
I