68 GRASSES. [class III. ORDER II. 



" What surprised me very much, and greatly puzzled me at first, was, 

 to observe that, notwithstandiug the multitude of lateral shoots from 

 each of the main bamboos, and from all the subordinate branches, not 

 a single trace of displacement, or the slightest obstruction to the growth 

 of any branch, could be detected. Every person must have heard of 

 the^astouishing rapidity of the growth of the bamboo; it is said, indeed, 

 that in one seasou it starts up to its whole length. I do not know if 

 this be true, but am quite certain that if one of the main bamboos were 

 to spring from the ground in the centre, or even near the sides of the 

 cluster, and that from its joints there were at the same time to sprout 

 out the lateral branches I have described, it would be impossible for 

 the main stem to force its way through the obstructions presented by 

 the network, formed by the little branches growing from the joints of 

 the other bamboos in the cluster." The author goes on to state he 

 thinks we can " perceive how nature manages this difficult affair. 

 When the bamboo first springs out of the ground, it is about as thick 

 as a man's wrist, always highly polished, with an extremely hard 

 point ; and as no lateral shoots are pnt out until it has attained its full 

 height, it readily makes it way through the thickest ramified masses, 

 while the subordinate branches, growing in like manner, find no diffi- 

 culty in piercing this complicated mass of vegetable life. 



"I saw," continues Captain Hall, " bamboos in every different stage 

 of this process, and particularly I noticed several of the main stems 

 rising to the height of seventy feet and upwards, of a clear yellow 

 colour, and evidently of recent growth, but without a single lateral 

 branch gi-ovving from their joints from top to bottom ; and this led me 

 to infer that their extreme height had not been reached, or was but 

 just attained." 



Bamboos are applied to many useful purposes both in India, China, 

 and Japan. The tender tops are used to form a pickle; an excellent 

 paper is manufactured from the tissue of the stem ; and the stems 

 themselves are used in a great variety of purposes, such as the making 

 of furniture for their houses, cups, tubs, and boxes; also in the con- 

 struction of dwellings, which are sometimes covered with the gigantic 

 leaves of the Banana ; in making vvaler pipes, and in the construction 

 of fences. The substance called in India tabashecr, is procured from 

 the joints; it was found by Dr. Turner to consist of silica, with a 

 minute portion of lime and vegetable matter. 



In the extra-tropical countries, and especially in the temperate regions, 

 the grasses are far more numerous than within the tropics; they are 

 also much smaller, seldom exceeding three or four feet in height ; 

 of a more tender and succulent nature, and better suited for the food of 

 grazinj^ cattle. They are likewise for the most part found growing in 

 society, and that so densely as to form the compact green turf which 

 carpets our meadows and fields, and clothes the banks of the meander- 

 ing stream, or borders the acclivities upon many of our most rapid 

 rivers: in short there appears, as already stated, scarcely any limit to 



