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Biology in America 



has established among his many agencies for this purpose, the 

 Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry in the Department of Agriculture, whose 

 duty it is to go into the " uttermost parts of the earth" and 

 bring back to us its treasures. From the Asian steppes to 

 the jungles of the tropics its explorers have gone, and from 

 the fertile isles of Japan to the deserts of Arabia, in their 

 search for the useful and the beautiful, to enrich our fields 

 and adorn our dwellings. 



A SINGLE CROWN OF THE UDO AFTER BLANCHING 

 Cwirtcsy of the U. 8. Bureau of Plant Industry. 



To even name, let alone describe all the manifold varieties 

 of plants whose introduction the Office has attempted, would 

 be out of the question in these pages, but a few of them may 

 be mentioned. 



We are accustomed to think of the bamboo in terms of 

 wicker work or fishing rods, but how many of us realize that 

 the young bamboo shoots, which grow at the rate of a foot a 

 day, are succulent and may be eaten like asparagus tips, while 

 the seeds of some species may be used as grain, and the fruits 

 of others cooked and eaten? How often do we think of the 



