DATED STEMS OF THE EDIBLE BAMBOO. 
In Japan the edible bamboo {Phyllostachys mitis) , is 
grown in large groves and the young shoots are marketed 
as asparagus is sold In America. The stems are dated in 
ink with the character for the year of their birth, and 
four years later they are cut for timber. Small groves of 
this species are now established in Louisiana. Photo No. 
1644 by David Fairchild, Kyoto, Japan, 1903. 
