THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
i8i 
fruit and plant JVotes 
HOW TO BLANCH THE NEW JAPANESE VEGETABLE, 
UDO 
Call to your Gardener’s attention at once. 
The spring treatment of Udo should be begun before 
growth starts and the following methods are advised; 
Get a number of unglazed six inch drain tiles one foot 
long, chip the edge of the inside of one end, turn this 
end down on a smooth board, pour about an inch of wet 
cement into the tile, and let it harden. This will make a 
light-tight porous plug. 
Invert these tiles over the hills of Udo, making sure by 
scraping away the dirt that they cover completely all the 
buds to be found there. Cover the tiles with straw or 
leaves or light dirt, at least enough to shut out any light 
from below, and from time to time lift the tiles to see how 
the shoots are coming on. If the Udo plants made a 
vigorous growth last summer, these young roots should 
produce this season from four to six good sized shoots, some 
of which may touch the cement plug. 
If it is difficult to get these tiles, an old jar or pickle 
keg can be put over each hill, or if this is not available, 
mound up over the hill, to a height of 24 inches, light and 
very well rotted manure, and when the shoots come 
nearly through this covering, dig down and cut them for 
the table. 
It is essential that the shoots be not exposed to the 
light while growing, as they turn green and take on a rank 
flavor. 
Udo has a decided flavor, peculiar to it. This flavor is 
unpleasant if too strong, just as the flavor of green celery 
is unpleasant. It may be cooked in the following way; 
peel the shoots and drop them into cold water. Cut them 
into four-inch lengths. Boil them in salt water for ten 
minutes, then change the water, adding a fresh quantity of 
salted water, and boil until quite soft. Prepare a white 
sauce such as is used for cauliflower or asparagus, put the 
Udo in it, and allow it to simmer until thoroughly soft. 
Serve on toast in the usual way. If there is too much of 
the pine taste in the shoots after preparation, a second 
change of water will remedy this. 
Those who learn to like the wild flavor of the Udo 
when cooked will want to try it as an uncooked salad, in 
which form it is most attractive looking. To do this, peel 
the shoots, cut into three-inch lengths, and then shave 
the stems into thin shavings, letting the latter fall into ice 
water as they are made. Allow them to soak in ice water 
for a half hour or so to remove the turpentine taste and 
then serve with a French dressing of vinegar, olive oil, salt, 
and pepper. Do not dress the shavings until just before 
serving as they become stringy on standing in oil. 
The butt ends and pieces too small for salad can be 
made into an excellent soup, which is prepared just as one 
does celery soup. 
This Office would be glad to know what success you 
have with this vegetable and how you like it. 
Daniel Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in Charge. 
HARDY APPLE STOCKS FOR THE NORTH 
Professor Macoun Recommends Hardiest Varieties of 
Crabs for Northern Canada 
He says, “We And at Ottawa that we get the most 
satisfactory results from root grafting our trees on crab 
apple stock, and the reason we think crab apple stock is 
most desirable is this; In the cold parts of the country, as 
well as New Brunswick, Quebec, and Eastern Ontario, 
we And that apple trees will not succeed on as cold soils as 
they will in the south of Ontario or the Annapolis Valley, 
hence it is most important if we cannot have the soil 
as well drained as we desire to have roots which will with¬ 
stand such as nearly as possible. Crab apple trees will 
succeed in cold soils much better than apple; you will And 
them growing in wet land where apples would not stand. 
We believe for our conditions it is well to have our apple 
trees grafted or budded on these hardy roots, for being able 
to withstand the colder condition of the soil means that the 
tree will do better. After twelve years’ experience, I am 
more and more confirmed in this opinion. We sow the 
seed of the Martha, Whitney, or Hyslop in the fall and 
make nursery beds; the first thing in the spring these seeds 
will germinate and almost every seed will come up. We 
leave the seedlings in the beds for that winter; the follow¬ 
ing spring we set them out in the nursery, putting the trees 
six inches apart in rows three feet apart. You can either 
leave these trees for budding or use them for root grafting. 
We prefer root grafting, for the reason that if the farmer 
is going to have a small nursery it is much easier to graft 
in the winter than in the summer, when one is usually very 
busy. The second year we dig up these young trees and 
heel them in, in the cellar, and during the months of 
February and March we root graft on these stocks. 
BEN DAVIS IN MISSOURI 
The following extracts are taken from a statement by 
Prof. W. L. Howard, of Columbia, Missouri, recently 
published in the New York Packer: 
“There are probably thirtj' million apple trees in Missouri. 
Of this number perhaps 75% are Ben Davis, or varieties equally 
poor in general qualities. . . Many of these orchards are of 
trees from 10 to 20 years old, and growers have hesitated to up¬ 
root them. . . A system of topgrafting has been undertaken 
which promises to add greatly to the wealth of the state. 
The Darby Fruit Farm of Amoret is practicing this method of 
topgrafting on a larger scale than at any other place. . . There 
is no reason for having undesirable trees in an orchard when the 
system of topgrafting is so easy and results follow so quickly. 
Trees up to 20 years old may be successfully topgrafted and if 
quite vigorous they may be transformed into producers of very 
profitable varieties of fruit when considerably older. One of our 
students at the college of horticulture here has recently topgrafted 
an orchard near Troy, Mo. He used varieties of such high quality 
as Grimes Golden, Jonathan, Delicious and King David, to replace 
Ben Davis and Wolf River. The increase in the value of the 
orchard’s product by the substitution of varieties like the Grimes 
Golden and Jonathan, or frost resistant varieties like the Ingram, 
would be very great in comparison with the cost of topgrafting. 
