MODE OF GROWTH OF BAMBOOS. 393 



Although it can in a general manner be said that the strongest 

 clumps will produce the largest shoots, such a statement is not 

 strictly true, for a given amount of constructive materials present 

 in a clump may form a single very large shoot or several of only 

 ordinary or even small size. The real criterion of vigour in any 

 case will always be the aggregate sectional area of all the shoots 

 produced in the year in question measured at about 1 foot above 

 the soil. Hence shoots of the year which grow singly apart from 

 one another and thus have each at its disposal all the spare food 

 elaborated by its immedi ite neighbours of the preceding two or 

 three generations, will be thicker than those which come up close 

 together and divide between them this food. 



The age at which a clump begins to produce shoots of market- 

 able dimensions varies very greatly with the species and the soil. 

 The larger species will of course begin to be productive much 

 earlier than the rest. For one and the same species the nature of 

 the soil always makes an enormous difference. In a well-manured, 

 well-watered garden soil several generations of culms will come up 

 in a single year, with the result that the time requisite for the at- 

 tainment of a given size of shoots is shortened in proportion. 

 Thus, whereas out in the forest Dendrocalamus strictus takes, 

 under the most favourable conditions, 8 years to produce saleable 

 shoots, in a nursery it may reach this stage of growth in its third, 

 and sometimes even in its second, year. As the natural term of 

 life of a clump varies, according to the species, probably from 

 20 to 50 years, it is evident that for a very considerable term of 

 its existence it remains unproductive.* 



Before closing this summary description of the mode of growth 

 of bamboos, a peculiarity must be noticed which affects to no little 

 extent the work of the wood-cutter. The bending of the rhizome 

 to grow up vertically upwards is continued in the shoot itself after 

 this latter has come up above ground and is often to be noticed 

 even when the shoot has attained a considerable length. The 

 result is that the shoot, even if produced quite outside the edge 

 of the clump, bends inwards and enters in amongst the foliage of 

 the shoots of preceding years, so that when it is cut, there is al- 

 ways some difficulty in disengaging it from the interlacing mass of 

 branches and twigs. The difficulty is greatest in the case of shoots 

 which originate in the middle of the clump, and if the clump is 

 at all crowded, some of the shoots inside cannot be taken out ex- 



* This fact also demonstrates the expediency of forcing early productiveness in 

 plantations by putting out only strong nursery plants. 



