panese restaurant, it is the daily meal of an
American family two decades hence, if the Department of Agriculture
succeeds in its attempt to introduce a large number of new foods to
this country for the dual purpose of supplying new dainties and
reducing the cost of living. Uncle Sam has determined to decrease
the price of food as much as possible, and, for this purpose,
delegated Dr. David S. Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in charge of
the Foreign Plant Section of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in
particular, to see what can be done about it.

More than 30,000 fruits and vegetables have been tested by Uncle
Sam's experts and, according to Dr. Fairchild, a goodly portion of
the foodstuffs which have been regarded as staples since the days of
the first settler are doomed. Consider for example "Jujube Soup!"
Mention that to the average person and he will answer:

"But I thought the jujube was a fruit, like an apple. How can you
make soup of it?" The average person is right. The jujube is a
fruit--but a most remarkable one.

"It is about the size and appearance of a crab apple, but contains
only a single seed. It grows on a spiny tree, long and bare of
trunk, with its foliage cropping out at the very top like a royal
palm of the tropics. The jujube itself has been used for years to
flavor candies and other confections. But the essence is very
expensive and comparatively rare, despite the profusion with which
the fruit grows in its native habitat.

"Dr. Fairchild, however, imported several specimens for the
Department's gardens in California, where they are bearing
prolifically. The arid sands of the southwest, where nothing but
cactus and sage-brush formerly would grow, have been found to be
excellent soil for the jujube, and it is the hope of Uncle Sam's
food experts to see the entire Arizona and New Mexico deserts dotted
with jujube orchards, with income to their owners. The jujube is
delicious eaten raw, but it may be cooked in any manner in which
apples are prepared, used as a sauce or for pie, preserved or dried.
Finally, its juice may be used as a delicious and highly nutritive
fruit broth."

Petsai, or, as the Chinese have it, Pe-tsai, is a substitute for the
cabbage. In appearance it is as different from cabbage as can be
imagined. It is tall and cylindrical and its leaves are narrow,
delicately curled, with frilled edges. The petsai can, however, be
grown on any soil where the ordinary cabbage could be cul