PHYLLOSTACHYS NIGRA 
ALL sun-worshippers, who wing their flight southward with 
the swallows, know the Black Bamboo as one of the chief 
ornaments which grace the gardens of the Riviera. Indeed it 
has been long established even in this less genial climate, for 
Loudon in the second edition of his Arboretum et Fruticetam, 
published in 1854, mentions it as having been for some ten 
or twelve years growing in the Horticultural Society’s gardens, 
so that it is a wonder that it should not have become a less 
rare feature with us than it is; the more so in that it is 
perfectly hardy and, in a fairly favourable situation, flourishes 
with great vigour. At Leonardslee the culms are 20 feet 
high with a circumference of all but 3 inches, but this must 
be regarded as very exceptional. At Shrubland and at Kew 
they are 10 feet high with a circumference of 2 inches. I 
find it a little capricious and difficult to establish unless the 
precautions which I have so many times indicated are taken ; 
but with common care all trouble disappears, and, once it 
has taken hold of the ground, no Bamboo is hardier: our 
rudest winters seem powerless to injure it. Yet if, instead 
of being one of the easiest, it were one of the most difficult 
exotics to train to our will, it would still be well worth the 
pains taken, for it is almost impossible to exaggerate the 
