Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1917-02-24
NEW TREES AND
PLANTS FOR A*sRIcA.


Tested IN Plan INTRODUCTION oaTs
dens Of United States.
Washington, d. CA wide variety
|of promising foreign plants are now
being propagated and tested by the
government in the plant introduction
gardens maintained by the United
States Department of Agriculture in
Florida, Califo6nia, Washington and
Maryland.
These gardens may be called the
ELLIS Islands" OF the plant immigra-
|tion service. In them the plant i'm
migrants are carefully studied in or
der to make sure that they carry
with them no disease, and only those
which are known to be desirable ad-
ditions are permitted to make
home in this country The plants
which have successfully passed this
scrutiny are distributed to the state
experiment stations and to thousands
OF experimenters and breeders
Throughout the country.
AT the present time, says an article
by p. H. Dorset in the 1916 Year
Book Of the department, much atten-
ton is being bestowed upon recent
importations from hina. Among these
are the jujube. This, II Is said. may
we'll prove commercially profitable In
California and the semiarid South
land Southwest. When prepared with
can sugar. jujubes have as delicate a
flavor as many dates. II is also a
very good fresh fruit and has long
been popular in hina.
The Chinese pistache Is another i'm
lportation which has been suggested
for use as an avenue tree. Thou.
sands OF young trees have been dis.
tributed to parks throughout the
country for this purpose. One advan.
tage OF this tree Is the great age TO
which 1t lives. For the production OF
nuts the variety OF pistache found In
Central and Western Asia Is being
tried. At present the entire supply
of nuts used In the coloring and fla.
voring Of Ice cream and candy comes
from abroad. but II Is said that there
is no reason why this country should
not grow its own supply. The sacra'
mento and San Joaquin valleys In
California appear to be we'll suited
Ito the industry.
Chinese persimmons and Chinese
chestnuts are also being tested. II Il
believed that the Chinese chestnut
may prove exceptionally valuable be
cause OF Its power TO resist the chest
nut bark disease which IL doing &C
much damage among the native chest
nuts. The persImmon. Il Ia thought
might be grown commercially In Call
fornia and In those sections Of The
South where the temperature doe
no, fall much below zero. In Chins
and Japan dried pcrsimmons are I
staple food and there seems TO be n,
reason why they should not be eater
largely In the future In this country
still another importation Is al
carly sweet cherry which has been In
troduced from Tanghsi. China. Thi
may prove profitable 10 growers a
an early cherry for the Eastern mar
lkets.
A number Of new vegetables. too
are now being tested In the plant In
production gardens. Among those ar,
the chayote from tropical Amcrica
This vine produces pcarshapcd frui
In abundance In the fall. They some
what resemble In flavor summc
SQUASH or vegetable marrow. and ma,
be used ~ fresh vegetable through
out the winter
Tho udo Is new salad plant iron
Japan that may be grown In pract
cally every state. This IL grown 4
much the same way AZ asparagus an
may be cooked In the same way
few plnnts NJ udo saxa IN. axtf.,.