NEW PLANT IMMIGRANTS 
Ss. 
Photo by Frank N. Meyer 
THE CHILDREN ARE HOLDING SHOOTS OF TWO SPECIES OF EDIBLE BAMBOO 
Bamboo shoots form one of the favorite vegetables of the Chinese, and the cultivation, 
both in China and Japan, of the species which yield the edible shoots is a lucrative business, 
in which large amounts of capital are invested. To the Oriental the edible bamboo is more 
important than asparagus; in fact, while we are introducing into America the bamboo, the 
Japanese and Chinese are introducing the asparagus into their countries. 
We have gathered together in Florida 
and Porto Rico and Hawati more than a 
hundred varieties, and some which we 
have fruited have already attracted the 
attention of the fancy fruit-dealers, who 
agree that the demand for these will 
increase as fast as the supply can be 
created, and maintain that extravagant 
prices, such as 50 or even 75 cents apiece, 
will be paid for the large, showy, deli- 
cious fruits. Last year 300 dozen Mul- 
goba mangos were sold in Florida for 
$3 a dozen. The Governor of Porto 
Rico has committed himself to a, policy 
which, if carried out, will cover the 
island with hundreds of thousands of 
mango trees of the better varieties. 
One of the oldest cultivated plants in 
the world is the date palm. At least 
4,000 years ago it was growing on the 
banks of the Euphrates, and it is this 
plant and the camel that together made 
it possible for the Arabs to populate the 
great deserts of northern Africa and 
Asia. The date palms would grow 
where the water was alkaline, and the 
camels were able to make long journeys 
across the desert to take the dates to the 
coast to market and sell them for wheat 
and olives. 
In these deserts of the old world, mil- 
lions of Arabs live on dates, for the date 
palm can be cultivated on land so salty 
as to prevent the culture of any other 
