CANE. 191 



Asiatic and African jungles. There, it is applied to more 

 purposes than any other species of vegetation, and is regu- 

 larly cultivated. It is tb.ere planted in spring or autumn, 

 and is considered ready for cutting at the end of four or five 

 years. Some of the most delicious sweetmeats we have, are 

 made from the young and tender shoots of the Can« 

 by the Chinese. The family of Cane comprises twenty gen- 

 era and one hundred and seventy species. The switch 

 cane is the seedling, and as the roots becomes older, they 

 thow up from year to year larger stems, provided it is not 

 too much trodden, in which case, it dwarfs and remains 

 switch cane, until it flowers, seeds and dies. 



It varies in diameter from i of an inch, to three inches, 

 and in Asia eight inches. The distance between nodes is 

 from four to eight inches, and in some highly prized Chinese 

 varieties, it is from four to five feet. In Asia it is used 

 for an endless variety of purposes, for making houses, boats, 

 masts, furniture, water-pipes, floats for children to learn 

 swimming, life-preservers, and by" softening the sections in 

 boiling water and flattening them out, they are used for 

 planks, boards, umbrellas, and in fact, for almost every do- 

 mestic purpose. 



The only uses to which it is applied here, are for pipe- 

 stems, fishing-poles, and for making baskets. It forms 

 most excellent winter pasturage, besides sheltering stock 

 from the inclemency of the weather. Several large farmers 

 in Middle Tennessee still have their pastures of Cane. Al- 

 most any portion of Middle Tennessee, if enclosed and un- 

 used, will soon send up small Cane, and if unmolested until 

 it attains some size, it will stand very constant grazing. In 

 the bottoms of West Tennessee, in some of the valleys of 

 East Tennessee and on some isolated spots in Middle Ten- 

 nessee, it yet exists in pristine beauty. But it is fast dis- 

 appearing, with wild game, before the encroachments of the 

 plow. One of the grandest and most sublime sights to be 

 seen, is the burning of a cane-brake. Sounds as if a terrific 



