18 JAPANESE BAMBOOS. 



in April are inspected in July some of them will have begun the for- 

 mation of new shoots from their active rhizomes. Plants of which 

 the rhizomes show no signs of activity, it should be emphasized, are 

 probably weak and should not be chosen for the second transplanting, 

 especially if designed for a long ocean voyage. In October the 

 twice-transplanted bamboos, hardened by this transplanting process, 

 are dug and their roots, together with a ball of earth, are wrapped 

 with coarse straw twine, surrounded with a layer of moist sphagnum, 

 and packed carefully in well-aired boxes. All holes in such boxes 

 should be carefully closed with wire netting to keep out rats during 

 the vo} r age. Very little foliage should be left on the plants when 

 they are shipped in this way (see PI. VI, fig. 2). October is the 

 best month for shipping from Japan, because the plants have by that 

 time gone into a dormant condition and travel safer, and the extreme 

 cold weather will not have begun before they reach their destination 

 in America. 



Even with these precautions, the plants on arrival after a sea voyage 

 require special attention. According to Mitford, who has had much 

 experience with their importation, they should not be planted out in 

 their permanent places before they have recovered from the effects of 

 the journey. Tbe balls of earth should be first thoroughly soaked in 

 water and the plants then potted and placed in a cool house for the 

 winter. The leaves, or bare culms, if the leaves are lost, should be 

 copiously syringed twice a day, but the roots should not be kept too 

 moist. Early in May the plants should be hardened oil' as one hardens 

 off geraniums for bedding out, and at the end of May or beginning of 

 June they will be ready to plant in their permanent places. 



This should be in soil which has been especially prepared the pre- 

 vious autumn by double digging to a depth of IS inches. In setting 

 out, great care should be taken not to trample down the soil too 

 roughly about the roots, as there is great danger of injuring the brittle 

 buds on the rhizomes or the tender fibrous roots. It is best, Mr. 

 Mitford says, to consolidate the plants by watering freely. After 

 planting, the ground should be thickly covered with a mulch of dried 

 leaves (PI. II), under which is a layer of cow manure; and this mulch 

 should be kept on during the summer months to allow the plants to 

 form a good strong system of underground stems and fibrous roots. 



The above method, which embodies the experience of such students 

 of the bamboo as Mr. Mitford, Mr. Tsuboi, and Mr. II. Suzuki, is 

 probably the safest one and in the end most economical. 



It has teen found unnecessary hy such cultivators as Mr. J. McLaren 

 and Mr. John Rock, of California, to pot the plants on arrival in such 

 a marm climate as California. The// are merely heeled m, gi/oen plenty 

 of water, and set out the following spring. 



The other method of propagation is to dig up, in the winter, lengths 



