877 



.-along the foot of the Himalaya, and the supply from Government 

 JForests is almost unlimited and the outtm^n from one Forest 

 Division only, averages about 10^000,000 canes yearly (Gamble, 

 Memo, to Director, Kew, Jan, 21st, 1918). 



r 



Eef. — '^ Food Grains of India — Dendrocalamus strictuSy' in 



Kew Bull. 1889, pp. 283-284. Dendrocalamus strictus (Male 



Bamboo), Bamboo Manna : Its occurrence in the Central Pro- 

 vinces, India, Hooper, in The Agric. Ledger No. 17, 1900, 



pp. 185-189. "The Male Bamboo," in The Agric. News, 



Barbados, xi. Sept. 28th, 1912, p. 311. 



The Bamboos generally are useful in many ways ; as fodder 

 or food, the young shoots of probably all are eaten more or less 

 for food in India (Watt) and China (Hosie, Rep. Ssuchuan^ 

 W, China, No. 5, 1904, p. 16), and on the rare occasions when 

 the plants flower or fruit, the grain of many species ap2:)ear3 i6 

 be of value. The culms of the large kind^ may be cut up to 

 serve for flower pots, split Bamboo, twisted or plaited, is used 

 ior making ropes in China, an important centre Trhere the plants 

 ^re cultivated for the purpose being the lower Yuen Fu River 

 (Kew Bull. 1909, p. 316), and they may be used for various 

 constructional works; the smaller kinds are used for maldng 

 furniture, and in the hoUow stems of some species, Bambusa 

 rarundinacea , etc. a deposit occurs called '' Tabashir " or " Bam- 

 too Manna," used for medicinal purposes in India (Watt, Diet. 

 JEcon. Prod. India). 



The stems of Bamboo have for many years been recom- 

 tnended as a source of material for paper-making; there are 

 samples of crushed Bamboo (1874) and (1879) paper in the 

 Museum at Kew (1883) made by ]Mr. Routledge, who published 

 in 1875 a pamphlet ou " Bamboo as a Paper-making Material," 

 where it is stated — " of all the fibre-yielding plants known to 

 ^botanical science there is not one so well calculated to meet the 

 pressing requirements of the Paper-trade as ** Bamboo " both 

 as regards faciKty of economy and production as well as the 

 quality of the paper-stock which can be manufactured therefrom." 

 This opinion would seem to have held good up to the present 

 time as in all the experiments since undertaken it has been 

 generall}^ conceded that a first-class paper can be produced from 

 Bamboo pulp, A sample of Bamboo Paper Pulp made by the 

 Socicte des Pulpes et Paperteries du Tonkin presented to the 

 Museum by Messrs. Ide and Christie in 1913, formed part of the 

 first supplies, in quantity, that had come so it was believed from 

 the East to England. Considerable research work has recently 

 been carried on in India and amongst recent pubhcations on 

 this subject may be mentioned—" Paper Making Fibre from 

 the Bamboo of British Burma," Routledge, in discussion on 

 Paper by Sir Arthur Fayre — Soc. of Arts, May 13th, 1881 — ^in 

 '' The Paper Makers' Monthly Journal, June, 15th 1881, pp. 186- 

 188.". Bamboo Fibre as a Paper Material/' in The Commercial 



« 13721 



z 



