BULLETIN 84, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
METHOD OF CULTURE. 
Much remains to be done in the working out of the most inexpen- 
sive methods of cultivating udo. Conditions of labor and materials 
are so different here from those in Japan that the methods of the 
Japanese have to be adapted to our own circumstances. The climate 
in America, at least in the Eastern States, is so different from that 
of Japan that methods of forcing used there are not applicable here. 
As a home garden vegetable the experience of the past 10 years 
indicates that the udo. when once started, is a very easy plant to 
grow. Amateurs have experienced some difficulty in growing udo 
from seed, but anyone with greenhouse or cold-frame facilities should 
have no difficulty with fresh seed if it is sown one-fourth inch deep 
Fig. 7. — Young udo plants as distributed to experimenters. Seedlings from seed planted 
in February should attain this size by the first of June. 
in March or April in what is known as screened potting soil, consist- 
ing of 1 part loam, 1 part leaf soil or mold, and 1 part sand. In two 
or three weeks the seeds should be up. From the flats, the young 
seedlings can be planted out in the ground as soon as they are 3 or 4 
inches high, or they can be potted off and later set out in the field 
(fig. 7). Seedlings started in boxes or flats in March will often 
grow ± or even G feet tall the first year and will flower freely if not 
prevented from doing so, as they should be, by cutting or pinching 
out the round flower buds in midsummer. Where the question is 
not one of propagating a horticultural strain, the seedling method 
of propagation is undoubtedly the best. 
Where, however, it is desired to perpetuate a particular strain, 
udo plants may be grown from cuttings of the green shoots. To do 
