410 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 7 



is most remarkable. The motive has not been to suggest that we should 

 try to imitate the ways of the East, but rather that we should ap- 

 preciate anew the genius that has given us such a rich heritage, and 

 that we should recognize and ponder again the remarkable versatility 

 of this group of plants. 



Numerous introductions of living bamboos have been brought into 

 the United States by private individuals and through governmental 

 agencies. Europe has no indigenous bamboos, but introduced species 

 are found in gardens and parks wherever the climate is sufficiently 

 mild. We have growing in the United States more than 100 species 

 and varieties, representing nearly every part of the globe where bam- 

 boo is found. And yet, though the first introductions probably were 

 made nearly a century ago, and though bamboos are highly esteemed 

 and cherished in many individual collections, no species has yet 

 established itself securely and indispensably in a single major phase 

 of our economy. 



When we know more about the technical characteristics of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of bamboo and their peculiar adaptabilities to specific 

 industrial purposes, we shall be in a position to avail ourselves more 

 fully of the immense potentialities of this group of plants. Since we 

 live in the age of machines and of large-scale production, we shall 

 need to adapt modern techniques developed in the West and mechanize 

 old ones long employed in the handcrafts of the Orient, before we can 

 succeed in introducing bamboo into our industrial economy to any 

 important extent. Meanwhile we should continue to search for and 

 introduce outstanding bamboos for trial and study. 



REFERENCES 



Bhargava, M. P. 



1946. Bamboo for pulp and paper manufacture. Indian Forest Bull. 129, 



25 pp. 

 Brown, W. H., and Fischer, A. F. 



1920. In Brown, W. H. (ed.), Minor products of Philippine forests. Philip- 

 pine Islands Dept. Agr. and Nat. Res., Bur. For. Bull. 22, vol. 1, 

 pp. 249-310, illustr. 

 Btjrkxll, I. H. 



1935. Dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 vols. 

 Cohen, W. E. 



1947. Utilization of bamboo in Japan. Australian Commonwealth Sci. and 



Ind. Res. Organ., Div. For. Prod., 8 pp. (Mimeographed.) 

 Deogun, P. N. 



1937. Silviculture and management of the bamboo Dendrocalamus strictus 

 Nees. Indian For. Rec, n. s., Silviculture, vol. 2, pp. 75-173, illustr. 

 Espinoza, J. C. 



1930. Testing, bending and compressive strength of the common Philippine 

 bamboo (Bairibusa spinosa Roxb.). Philippine Journ. Sci., vol. 41, 

 pp. 121-135, illustr. 



