BAMBOO — McCLURE 393 



Many species and varieties of bamboo are highly esteemed as orna- 

 mentals. Plants of various species of Sasa and Phyllostachys are 

 perhaps most numerous among the bamboos in Oriental gardens, 

 partly because of their ease of culture and their natural decorative 

 value, and partly because, in the Orient, gardening reaches its highest 

 state of development in the warm-temperature climate preferred by 

 these genera. Three tropical species deserve special mention because 

 of their striking appearance and popular appeal. These are the white 

 powdery bamboo {Lingnania chungii) of southern China, the mon- 

 astery bamboo {Thyrsostachys siamensis) of Thailand, and the giant 

 bamboo (Dendro calamus giganteus) of India. The first, as yet un- 

 known in the West, has been highly esteemed and even memorialized 

 by Chinese poets and artists since very early times. The last is widely 

 known and greatly admired in the West as well as the East, for the 

 unique size of its culms which attain truly gigantic proportions. 



In Japan various parts of bamboo are regularly used for their 

 decorative effect. The full-grown leafy culms are often massed to- 

 gether for temporary background purposes. After the leaves have 

 fallen, the dried culms, with their branches bedecked with colored 

 paper streamers or gleaming lanterns, are set up for all manner of 

 festive occasions. Large bouquetlike arrangements, in which three 

 culm sections of unequal length form the central element, with ever- 

 green branches massed about the base, constitute a more formal type 

 of ornament. In all objects made of bamboo, whether flower vases, 

 ornamental baskets, figurines, children's toys, or any of the thousand 

 and one objects of eveiyday use, the natural decorative value of the 

 culms or other parts of the plant is always presented to advantage. 



BAMBOO IN PAPERMAKING 



Bamboo occupies a very important place in the ancient handcraft of 

 papermaking in the Orient. Not only is the greater part of the paper 

 used in the Far East composed of bamboo pulp, but until recently 

 practically all of it was made on molds, the essential part of which is 

 fashioned from slender strips of bamboo wood. 



Establishment of a paper mill is conditioned upon the availability 

 of a sufficient supply of pulp material within easy reach. The in- 

 dustry depends also upon a steady supply of clear water and a cheap 

 source of the digesting materials, such as quick lime, soda ash, or 

 potash. The methods employed in the old mills where paper is made 

 entirely by hand are of a very primitive nature and are, for that 

 reason, not adequate for refining the highly lignified tissues of ma- 

 ture bamboo culms. Therefore, the better grades of paper are made 

 from young culms only — those that have not yet put forth their 

 leaves. For cheap papers the requirements are less exacting, and a 



