14 BULLETIN 84, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Udo soup. — Remove the skin from the shoots. Cut in pieces one-half inch 

 long and wash thoroughly in cold water. Cook until tender and mash through 

 a colander. Add a pint and a half of milk, one-half pint of cream, two table- 

 spoonfuls of butter, and one tablespoonful of flour, mixing the flour and butter 

 until smooth. Season with pepper and salt. (Recipe for one bunch of udo; 

 enough for five persons. ) 



CLIMATIC REQUIREMENTS OF UDO. 



From the fact that udo is grown all over Japan, one might assume 

 that it is adapted to a wide range of climate, but it must be borne 

 in mind that Japan has an insular climate and that none of its 

 plants are subjected to drought. The udo has done best in the moist 

 regions of this country, especially in the New England States, 

 Canada, and the Atlantic States as far south as the Carolinas, in the 

 rainy region of Puget Sound, and in the trucking sections of Cali- 

 fornia, about Sacramento. The fact that it dies down in the winter 

 and can be coA^ered makes it possible to grow it where temperatures 

 go far below zero. A temperature of — 17° F. for a few days has 

 not injured it in the least. 



DISEASES OF UDO. 



Like almost every other plant, udo has its diseases. Dr. B. D. 

 Halsted, of New Brunswick, N. J., has had trouble with his plants 

 because a leaf spot (Colletotrichum?) attacked the foliage and did 

 much damage. The writer discovered a soft rot of the roots which 

 killed a number of apparently vigorous plants on the farm of the 

 Department of Agriculture at Arlington, Va., the cause of which 

 proved to be a sclerotium-producing fungus, the mature form of 

 which has not 3 7 et been observed. These diseases, however serious 

 they may seem, should not discourage the trial by thousands of 

 Americans of this easily grown early-spring vegetable, which will 

 thrive under so many and varied conditions. 



REASONS FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF UDO. 



The writer is not certain that from a purely money-making stand- 

 point udo will prove superior in any detail or combination of details 

 to vegetables which are already under cultivation in America, but it 

 has a distinctive flavor, and many people are beginning to like it, as 

 they have learned to like celery, asparagus, and eggplant. Notwith- 

 standing its centuries of culture in the Orient, it is still a vegetable 

 whose potentiality remains quite undetermined. It is highly desir- 

 able that many amateurs should experiment with it and the public 

 get acquainted with it in order that a sufficient demand may be cre- 

 ated to encourage growers to investigate it on a sufficiently extensive 

 scale to determine whether it has any really economic advantages 



