Show U S spuds save million chinese handful planted 25 years ago relieved famine washington the biblical mira cle of the loaves and the fishes was somewhat paralleled in real life dur ing the recent famine in hansu province china according to a mention cation nl to the national geographic society fram william W simpson si epson tennessee missionary A handful of potatoes sent from america 25 years ago planted and extensively propagated by christian missionaries in this remote part of china along the tibet border saved the lives of more than a million chi nese cese when the district was aravag ravaged ged by drought and famine ur mr simpson says when the first americans and europeans penetrated the kadau province and established shed mission stations in old city some forty years ago they found a native chinese potato which was small poor and had a very low food value the natives of the district with little regard for the future had bad been in the habit each yea year r of eat ing the best of the crop and saying saving the poorest potatoes for seed the communication continues A letter of appeal to t the he united states brought four early rose pota toes from tennessee and these were planted in 1997 two in and two in Mi they grew veri very viela arid produce a many tubers of fine quality in chinese soil the next year however the crop was divided with the chinese who were taught how to cut up the large potatoes for seed in order to L beep beep up the quality of the crop in a few years the new variety spread to several counties of the province which had a total population of some people but the boxer rebellion resulted in a recall of all the christians from the district and while they were away the chinese fell into their old habit of eating all the libe best and also ol of allow allowing ing the new variety to become mixed with the diseased older colder type of potato the flavor and food value of the potato plantings had so deteriorated when the missionaries were again operating in hansu that mr simp ton SOD decided to send for fresh tubers from america friends in ID massachusetts chu forwarded a mere ha handful adful of potatoes which were planted in 1903 the expert ence of chinese planters plan lers with the earlier Ame american variety helped to speed the distribution of the green mountain tubers which aull quealy kly supplanted both the native and the early rose types in the three years famine since 1923 1928 one of the worst famines the world has ever known almost half ball the population of hansu and also of the province of ghensi to the east have died but where the green mountain potato was cultivated the larger part or of the population has been able to subsist it has been estimated that fully a million people have been living by eating these potatoes where american potatoes had bad not been cultivated the people resorted to the bark of 0 trees roots of grass and inserts insects As these could not dot long sustain life the people depending upon them became easy victims to pestilence in a few limited areas where wheat and rye had been introduced by missionaries these cereals proved of great assistance si in famine time in many hadj regions where chinese wheat had been entirely killed off by blight the newer american varieties nourished flourished apparently not being susceptible to the same same diseases as were the chinese varieties |