Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-04-25

For persons who like novelty In
interesting field for experiment is Of
fered by the new Japanese vegetable,
udo, Nurserymen have grown the
udo under the name Aralia Cordata
for ornamental purposes for twenty
years or more, but as q vegetable 1t
is still comparatively unknown. on
rich soil it grows to a height of ten
feet or more, producing a very orna-
mental mass of large green leaves
and, In the late summer, long, loose
flower lusters, sometimes three feet
In length. In appearance it is much
like larger variety of the spilIenard
or petty morel, a native of our wood
lands.
The blanched shoots of the udo have
n characteristic flavor. Properly pre-
pared they are delicious-or so the
author of Bulletin 81, Just published
by the United States Department of
Agriculture under the title of Eek
periments With lido, the New Ia
panese Vegetable" has found them.
The plant requires little care, and
With the same space devoted to 1t.
yields approximately the same amount
OF FOOD for the liable as asparagus
and Is ready for Use at about the
same time in the spring. After the
first frost 1t dies down each autumn
to come up again in the spring. much
as asparagus and rhubarb do. A
patch of II can be forced each spring
Tor at least six years and probably
much longer. The flowers attract
bees and flies in such numbers that
"A field of 1t is usually humming with
insects. As honey plant, therefore.
the udo deserves the attention of bee
keepers
lido growing Is not yet sufficiently
general in this country for the most
inexpensive methods of cultivating TO
nave been worked out and conditions
In America are so different from those
in Japan that little benefit can be
derived from the experience of Orien-
tai growers. 1t Is, however reason
able to assume that the cultivation
OF the udo presents few difficulties.
1t is adapted to wide range of eli
mate. as Is shown by the fact that 1t
grows all over Japan, but no part of
Japan suffers from drought. In this
country the udo has done best in
moist regions, particularly in New
EnBlandb the Atlantic states as faf
South as the Carolinas, in the rainy
region of Puget Sound and in the
trucking sections Of California
Where greenhouses or cold frames
are available the seed should be
planted in March or April-one-fou
of an inch deep In soil that consists
of equal parts of loan, mold and
sand. AS soon as the plants are three
or four inches high they can be plant
ed out in the ground or potted and
set out later. Thereafter the udo
needs little attention. It's roots
spread with extraordinary rapldity
through loose, rich solitude Is not
recommended for poor, dry land-and
the crowns soon become at least a
foot across. Three and a half or four
feet is, therefore. not too great a dis.
lance to allow between plants.
Perhaps the greatest difficulty con-
nected with the cultivation Of the udo
is the blanching of the shoots 1t is
these that are regarded as the real
delicacy, for the flavor Of the stems
when green has a certain rnnSuess
which is unpleasant to most palStes
Various methods of blanching the
early shoots have therefore been ex-
perimented with In California eX-
cellent results have been obtained by