MANAGEMENT OF GROVES. 21 



JAPANESE MANAGEMENT OF BAMBOO GROVES. 



One of the best posted bamboo growers in Japan informed the 

 writer that twenty years ago he did not know that his groves, which 

 were then in a neglected state, had any money value, but that to-day 

 those parts of his farm on which the groves are situated are its most valu- 

 able portions. The attention which he bestows upon them now is very 

 inexpensive, but almost as careful as that given to any other of his 

 crops. The following forest methods are largely those which Mr. 

 Tsuboi described as, from his experience, the best. These are appli- 

 cable with slight variations to the three principal timber bamboos in 

 Japan, and pertain in a general way to the culture of the ornamental 

 species. 



The land chosen for a bamboo grove should be dug over to a depth 

 of li feet the autumn previous to being planted, and, if a heavy soil, 

 should have worked into it a good quantity of trash from the stable. 

 The plants should be set out at an equal distance from each other at 

 the rate of about 300 to an acre, or 12 feet apart each way. If the soil 

 is a dry one, the ball of earth and roots should be planted below the 

 surface of the soil, but if a wet one a mound should be made and the 

 plants set in the upper portion of it. After planting it is important, 

 as already remarked, that the soil between the plants should be given 

 a heav} T mulch of straw, under which is a layer of cow manure. This 

 mulch should be maintained during the entire year. In the beginning 

 the roots should be supplied with an abundance of water and in the 

 autumn should be given plent}^ of rotted manure. If some of the 

 plants die, they should be replaced by others so as to maintain as com- 

 plete a stand as possible. It is essential as the new shoots spring up 

 that the ground at their bases should be shaded by the foliage. The 

 semiobscurity of a Japanese grove is not only its greatest charm, but 

 one of the necessary factors of its growth. The sooner the ground 

 can be shaded by the plants the better. 



For the first three years at least all the shoots that appear should be 

 allowed to mature, but after the grove is once well established only 

 the largest shoots should be permitted to grow, the others being cut 

 out as soon as they appear above the ground. This thinning process 

 throws the strength of the plants into a comparatively few large culms, 

 and gradually increases the height and strength of the forest. 



In regions where the snows are so heavy that they break down the 

 plants the practice of bringing the tops of several culms together and 

 fastening them with rope is sometimes followed. The wigwam-like 

 masses formed in this way are able to support without injury the 

 weight of snow. 



No culm should be cut for timber purposes until it is at least four 

 years old, as before this time the wood is not mature. On the other 



