232 THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY 



This, he assures us, is not the bill of fare of a Chinese eat- 

 ing house, nor yet of a Japanese restaurant, it is the daily 

 meal of an American family two decades hence, if the De- 

 partment of Agriculture succeeds in its attempt to introduce 

 a large number of new foods to this country for the dual 

 purpose of supplying new dainties and reducing the cost of 

 living. Uncle Sam has determined to decrease the price of 

 food as much as possible, and, for this purpose, delegated 

 Dr. David S. Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in charge 

 of the Foreign Plant Section of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 in particular, to see what can be done about it. 



More than 30,000 fruits and vegetables have been tested 

 by Uncle Sam's experts and, according to Dr. Fairchild, a 

 goodly portion of the foodstuffs which have been regarded as 

 staples since the days of the first settler are doomed. Con- 

 sider for example "Jujube Soup!" Mention that to the 

 average person and he will answer : " But I thought the ju- 

 jube was a fruit, like an apple. How can you make soup of 

 it?" The average person is right. The jujube is a fruit 

 but a most remarkable one. 



"It is about the size and appearance of a crab apple, but con- 

 tains only a single seed. It grows on a spiny tree, long and bare of 

 trunk, with its foliage cropping out at the very top like a royal 

 palm of the tropics. The jujube itself has been used for years to 

 flavor candies and other confections. But the essence is very 

 expensive and comparatively rare, despite the profusion with which 

 the fruit grows in its native habitat. 



"Dr. Fairchild, however, imported several specimens for the 

 Department's gardens in California, where they are bearing pro- 

 liflcally. The arid sands of the southwest, where nothing but cactus 

 and sage-brush formerly would grow, have been found to be excel- 

 lent soil for the jujube, and it is the hope of Uncle Sam's food ex- 

 perts to see the entire Arizona and New Mexico deserts dotted with 

 jujube orchards, with income to their owners. The jujube is deli- 

 cious eaten raw, but it may be cooked in any manner in which 



