﻿Inventory 55, Seeds and Plants Imported. 



Plate IV. 



The Genge Clover Grown as a Vegetable in China. (Astragalus 

 SINICUS L., S. P. I. No. 45995.) 



King, in his Farmers of Forty Centuries, draws attention to the fact thai the Chinese grow (his 

 clover not only as a source of soil nitrogen but for human food. For this purpose they cull i- 

 vate it in specially prepared beds and gather the shoots before the stage of blossoming is 

 reached and prepare them by boiling or steaming them. The stems arc also cooked and dried 

 for winter use. When picked very young these clover shoots bring the highest price of any 

 vegetable, as much as 28 cents gold per pound. The reason for this fact is worthy of invesl i- 

 gation by physiologists. (Photographed bv Frank N. Meyer, Mokanshaii, Cheiiang, China, 

 April 22, 1908; P5138FS.) 



