16 THE BAMBOO GARDEN i CHAP. 
will be patent to every gardener. In the latter case germina- 
tion may possibly not take place until the following 
spring, and even then it may be advisable to help it by 
again having recourse to the hotbed. In all cases be it 
remembered that moisture is the first essential element of 
success. 
2, PROPAGATION BY Diviston.—The best moment for this 
operation is, in our climate, the latter end of April. The 
process is very simple. The plants should be divided into 
clumps of two or three culms with their rhizome, in order 
to ensure a new growth from the buds on the internodes of 
the root-stock. If the tufts can be lifted with a ball of 
earth, so much the better. They should be planted in beds 
at distances of 2 feet, carefully watered, and protected by a 
top-dressing of well-rotted cow manure and dead leaves. 
With the same care they may be planted at once in their 
permanent homes. 
3. PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS OF THE BASE oF THE CULM 
WITH OR WITHOUT THE RHIZOME ATTACHED.—Cut off about 
a foot’s length of rhizome bearing a stem; cut down the 
stem to about the same length. Plant at such a depth as 
will ensure the two or three lowest and branchless knots at 
the base of the culm being covered with earth. This may 
be effected either in pots or in the open ground. It is 
essential that the stem should be cut down, otherwise it 
begins to wither downwards; a sort of creeping paralysis of 
the whole plant ensues, ending in death. Reproduction is 
also possible without the attached rhizome, and this method 
is specially valuable where, owing to the rarity of the plant 
or for other reasons, economy is an object. For the rhizome 
