303 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII. 
Further information might be obtained from the Deputy Commissioner 
of Balaghat ; from the Secretary to the Horticultural Society at Nagpur ; 
from Colonel Doveton, Conservator of Forests, C. P., who knows most about 
their cultivation for profit ; and from Sir William Sleeman’s writings. 
Colonel Doveton could correct me on many points. 
T see that Mr. Gamble, Conservator of Forests, North-Western Provinces, 
advises propagation by division of roots rather than from seed. If the 
native theory that off-sets partake in the appointed life-period of the parent 
clump be correct, this plan might lead to great disappointment. 
And it rarely happens that a private person is willing to afford the cost 
of propagation in this way, even if he can finda source of supply. It cost 
close on a hundred rupees to start a dozen clumps (from seedlings brought 
from Narsinghpur, C. P.) in the Cawnpore Memorial Gardens, although 
the roots were obtained gratis. 
For any one trying that plan of propagation it is recommended that the 
roots to be removed be dug up before sunrise and the stems cut off about 
four feet above the roots. All but the tops of the stems should then be 
immersed in water in a shady place for a whole day. Pack in damp black 
cotton soil or in damp moss for transport. Plant in thoroughly wetted 
holes. The bamboo loves a gentle slope on all sides with good drainage. It 
abhors stagnant water. 
I have often enquired about the seeding of the large bamboo, which is 
carefully cultivated in the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces 
and throughout Bengal, Apparently natives have no traditions of its ever 
seeding, They say that it pines away and dies —‘t Udas hokar mar jata hai "— 
if the human habitations it has sheltered become abandoned. 
We have it on the authority of an old song that ‘“ Cats don’t know when 
it’s half-past eight.” Are bamboos more intelligent ? Can they tell when 
time is up ? Do they respond to the wants of humanity in times of drought 
and scarcity? Do they obeya special and individual law of nature by 
which they must flower and die ata particular age? Oris their life-period 
as variable as his whose days are three score years and ten ? 
G. JASPER NICHOLLS, I.C.8. 
Orr ADEN, 6th May, 1893. 
No. III.—JUNGLE NOTES. 
T am sending you by rail a single horn of a, bison (Bos gaurus), which I picked 
up in this district in March while in camp in the forest. 
The remarkable point about it is that it has been broken off the skull, core 
and all; and since I have never heard of such an instance, I thought it might 
be worth while sending you the horn for inspection. 
