THE AQUARIUM, 
OCTOBER, 1892. 15 
ous. It also grows very rapidly, attains 
a height of thirty yards, and multiplies 
infinitely. Bamboo is truly the Provi- 
dence of China ; in the Celestial Empire 
no village is without one or many shops 
of bamboos, assorted according to the 
thickness and length. In every farm 
there can be seen behind the house 
a bamboo plantation for the daily 
wants. ‘This is a piece of ground sur- 
rounded by a large ditch filled with 
water, and especially destined for the 
culture of the plant, whose massive 
leaves serve as a refuge to innumerable 
turtle doves. Bamboo is an indispen- 
sable element for the Chinese ; they 
make bridges of it, water pipes, houses, 
fences, mats, paper, tinder, umbrellas, 
hats, summer clothes, pillows, mat- 
tresses, ladders, furniture, brushes, 
string, arms, musical instruments, 
screens, fans, baskets, etc. Lastly, the 
young shoots of the plant are eaten, 
sometimes in the guise of asparagus 
or salad, and sometimes as a seasoning 
instead of mushrooms. Fish grated 
over with bamboo is a much sought 
after dish. It is also used in the form 
of a whistle to drive away the wicked 
spirits, which, according to Chinese 
belief, haunt the habitations of man. 
This whistle, pierced in a certain way, 
is furnished with paper wings and 
thrown into the air at the end of a 
piece of string, in the same manner asa 
kite. The air in passing in the instru- 
ment causes sounds like those of an 
engine whistle, which has the property 
of not only driving the bad spirits 
away, but also of frightening the birds 
of prey which abound in China. The 
proprietors of pigeons, in order to pro- 
tect their birds against their rapacious 
enemies, attach a similar whistle to the 
feathers of the tail, which whistles 
immediately the bird takes flight. 
We cheerfully answer, at once, all 
queries made in regard to Aquariums 
or Window Gardening if return postage 
is enclosed, and publish only such an- 
swers in this column as may be of gen- 
eral interest. 
Mrs. H. K.—J. An aquarium should 
be constructed on such principles, that 
it will be, to a great extent, a world in 
miniature, being self-supporting, self- 
renovating, and in fact, nature on a 
small scale removed into our parlor, 
In order to obtain this perfection of 
managemeut some practice is necessary, 
and though we may fail once or twice 
in the attainment of our object, let us 
remember that every slight mishap is 
to be ascribed to a fault of our own, to 
some point, however seemingly insig- 
nificant, yet essential, which we have 
failed to take into consideration. Each 
such failure leads us to a vast amount 
of useful facts, not to be obtained 
otherwise, and which it is our own 
fault if we do not take advantage of. 
The thing can be done by you, as it 
has been done by others, so never de- 
spair. 
Mrs. J. K., in Memphis, Tenn.— 
To find the capacity in gallons of a 
square tank, multiply the length, 
width and height together, and then 
divide by 231. 
If cisterns are cylindrical their con- 
tents may be readily determined by the 
following rule: Multiply the square of 
the radius (one half of the diameter) 
by 3.14159, and this product by the 
depth, all dimensions to be in inches. 
