IN THE ABERDARES 



an omnibus to a saucepan, or from the lining of the 

 walls of a departmental store to a hat-box. We are even 

 clothed in the products of the forest today. Celanese, 

 which lasts longer than silk, is made from spruce, and a 

 good spruce stocking will outlast a silk one, for it is not 

 so liable to ladder. Besides there is a growing shortage of 

 pulp for the manufacture of paper proper, and with 

 the continually increasing demand resulting from the 

 larger circulation of newspapers, journals and books in 

 many countries, this shortage may become acute. 



At present the great bulk of this raw material has to 

 come from outside the States. In Arundinaria alpina, 

 the bamboo of Kenya Colony, we have an excellent sub- 

 stitute for wood in the manufacture of the better qual- 

 ities of paper-pulp. There are vast tracts in the High- 

 lands of Kenya covered with this species, which is really 

 a giant grass with a hollow culm and solid joints, or 

 nodes. The growth is very rapid, and the shoot almost 

 reaches its full thickness immediately on emerging from 

 the ground. It grows very rapidly and reaches its full 

 height in about three months. 



Unlike any other species of bamboo, which grow in 

 clumps, the Arundinaria alpina covers the ground in a 

 continuous manner. About three-quarters of the lower 

 portion of the culm is unbranched. When the branches 

 are fully developed the culm has reached maturity. Cer- 

 tain species of bamboo flower gregariously over exten- 

 sive areas at long intervals of time — variously stated at 

 from thirty-five to fifty years. This is the case in some 



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