ENDOGENOUS SERIES. 197 



opened and flattened into rough boards, splitting everywhere 

 but holding together.* For vessels it is cut off with reference 

 to the partitions. The subject is thus summarized by Dr. 

 Martin : t " The Chinese make masts of it for their small 

 junks, and twist it into cables for their larger ones. They 

 weave it into matting for floors, and make it into rafters for 

 roofs. They sit at table on bamboo chairs, eat shoots of 

 bamboo with bamboo chop-sticks. The musician blows a 

 bamboo flute, and the watchman beats a bamboo rattle. 

 Criminals are confined in a bamboo cage and beaten with 

 bamboo rods. Paper is made of bamboo fibre, and pencils of 

 a joint of bamboo in which is inserted a tuft of goat's hair." 



Bamboos have hard silicious exteriors, rendering them 

 nearly impervious to water. Their development may be 

 rightly compared to that of asparagus, in that both are at first 

 brittle and tender. Stems grown in a few weeks require three 

 or four years to harden. The fresh uncured stems can be 

 curved or bent to many uses. In Japan, bamboo is said 

 to have developed into one of the most profitable of crops. 

 (Fairchild, U. S. Dept. Agri., Bureau Plant Industry, Bulletin 

 No. 43.) 



The manipulation of this valuable material is not yet 

 understood in America. Prof. Johnson notes | that the wood 

 of "bamboo is just twice as strong as the strongest wood in 

 cross-bending, weight for weight, when the wood is taken in 

 specimens, with a square and solid cross-section. ' ' Dr. Fernow 

 considers the bamboo worthy of more extensive trial through- 

 out the Gulf region. 



* Prof. Isaac F. Holton, New Granada," Harper Bros., New York, 1857 (p. 

 109). 



f "Cycle of Cathay," Fleming H. Revell Co., 1899 (p. 172). 



t Materials of Construction, 1897, p. 689. 



Henry G. Hubbard, U. S. Forestry Bulletin No. II. A. B. Mitford, 

 Bamboo Garden," Macmillan, 1896. Kurz, " Bamboo and its Uses, C 



I87 Bamboo as Substitute for Wood," Fernow, p. 203, 6th Annual Report. 

 " Japanese Bamboos," FairchiM, U. S. Dept. Agriculture. Bureau PI 

 dustry, Bulletins 42 and 43. 



