Malvern daily record., 1917-03-23
Many Are Being Tested by Uncle Sam Before Being Admitted
 to Country.
'UNDESIRABLES' ARE BARRED
Gardens Maintained by the Govern ment Are the "EiIis islands, of the Plant immigration
 Service.

4 wide variety of promising for eign plants are now being propagated and tested by Uncle Sam in the plant introduction gardens maintained by the United States department of ag- ricuIture in Florida, California, Wash ington and Maryland.
 These gardens may be called the "Ellis islands" of the plant-immigra- ton service. In them the plant imml- grants are carefully studied, in order to make sure that they carry with them no disease, and only those which are known to be desirable additions are permitted to make q home in this country. The plants which have sue cessfully passed this scrutiny are dias tributed to the state experiment sta- tions and to thousands of experiment. CTS and breeders throughout the coun- try.
 At the present time, says an article by F. Fl. Dorsett in the 1916 Yearbook of the department, much attention is being bestowed upon recent importa- tions from China. Among these are the jujube. This, it is said, may we'll prove commercially profitable in Cali fornia and the semiarid South ane Southwest When prepared with cane sugar, jujubes have as delicate flavor as many dates. It Is also a very good fresh fruit and has long been popular in China.
 Chinese Trees for Parks.
 The Chinese pistache is another im- portation which has been suggested for use as an avenue tree. Thousands of young trees have been distributed to parks throughout the country for this purpose. One advantage of this tree is the great age to which it lives. For the production of nuts the variety of pistaehe found in central and west ern Asia is being tried. At present the entire supply of the nuts used in the eoloring and fiavoring of ice cream and candy comes from abroad, but 1t Is said that there Is no reason why this country should not grow Its own supply. The Sacramento and San Jo- aqIlin valleys in California appear to be well suited to the industry. Chinese persimmons and Chinese chestnuts are also being tested. It is believed that the Chinese chestnut may prove exceptionally valuable be- cause of its power to resist the chest nut bark disease, which is doing so much damage among the native chest nuts. The persimmon, It is thought, might be grown commercially in Cali fornia and in those sections in the South where the temperature does not fall much below zero. In China and Japan dried persimmons are staple food, and there seems to be no req son why they should not be eaten largely in the future in this country.
 Early Cherry Is Introduced.
 Still another importation is an early sweet cherry which has been intro duced from Tangshi, China. This may prove profitable to growers as an early cherry for the eastern markets.
 A number of new vegetables, too are now being tested in the plant in troduction gardens. Among these are the chayote from tropical America. This vine produces pear-shaped fruit in abundance in the fall. They some what resemble in flavor summer squash or vegetable marrow, and may be used as a fresh vegetable through out the winter.
 The udo Is a new salad plant from Japan that may be grown in practical ly every state. This is grown in much the same way as asparagus and may be cooked as we'll in the same way. A few plants of udo, says the article, should be in every home garden.