New Britain herald., 1925-02-27
CHOP SUEY USED
 F0R TWENTY YEARS
Fad Started in America; Trans formed Whole Asiatic Landscape

Washington, D. C., Feb. 27.---Chi- cago celebrates the two.score anni- versary of chop suey, and illustrates how a luncheon fad among State street shoppers literally transformed hillside landscapes in Japan and China.
 "Chop suey is a stranger to China lit is as American as the fec cream soda or hot dog'--but it's making re- quires bamboo sprouts from China and Japan," says bulletin from the Washington, D. O., headquarters of the National Geographic society. When the United States began buy ing the succulent sprouts the effect upon the thrifty farmers of Honshu and Kiangsu was akin to a Nebras- ka granger finding acres Of weeds turned to wheat. Edibue bomboo' had been scrub bamboo: soon its yield vied with timber bomboo.'
 Jack k-and- -1he- Bamboo Stalk
 "of course it did not take an American food fancy to show the Orient that bamboo sprouts were good eating. The Japanese variety of the grass which yields the most luscious sprouts is known as 'Moso' "a designation that goes back to the '24 paragons of Chinese fllial piety.'
 Once . widowed mother, so the story goes. fell i'll in mid-winter, and 1npynI fnr. ,nt hrofb ,,,nda ns hon, boo shoots. Her devoted son dug down in the snow to find them for her, and the gods rewarded bis picty by raising up shoots that grew to an amazing size. Japanese artists, to this day, perpetuate this Jack-and- the-bamboo-stalk legend by their drawings of the boy, Moso.
 "The actual facts about the bam- boo are fabulous enough. It is n grass, and provides wood of more numerous uses than any tree. One root may project a hundred straight, polished iointed stems into the air: these grow as high as 120 feet: and their rate of growth has been mark ed at more than two feet day.
 "A Chinese or Japanese family eat bamboo, sleep under it, sail the riv- CT on it, write with pen and paper made from it, comb their hair with it. cut their food with it, pipe water with if. and make their bird cages of it. Western people multiplied its uses by their inventions and employ 1t for airplanes, flutes. hairpins, porch screen and photograph needles.
 Comparable to Cocoanut and Date
 Bamboo has been called one of natures most valuable gifts to man. In parts of kiangsu province, China, and in large tracts of rural Japan, 1t would not be amiss to speak of the bamboo age: keeping in mind, however. that the bamboo civiliza- ton is much farther advanced than the date palm civilization of the Sahara or the 'coeoanut palm civili- zati3 of the South Sea Islands.
 "The giant bannboos are true grasses. They send underground stems long distances through the soil. binding it together with hahr, fintIike root stafAs, or rhizomes. From this network of roots and rhizon1es they send upward the most rapid growing shoots of any plant known. While the shoots are so fresh and tender that they can be snapped off with the hand and cooked 10 an asparagus-like delicacy, bamboo wood is the strongest known timber for its weight, and it's hard, siiceous exterior makes it serve for knives and whetstones.
 Despite it's numerous uses the grass is valued also for its beauty. The trees of China and Japan lend a charm to many landscapes. They are waving plumes of delicate green foliage, which, whether seen against the skyline or backed by a darker mass of forest, always give pecu- liar softness 10 the scene
 Makers of scores of manufactur- ed products would be inconvenienced Nf they were deprived of bamboo: epicures would be saddened; but the American small boy wot'd be deso- lated if the millions of bamboo poles shipped here every year were cut off. What would be do for his fishing poles?"