OX THE ECONOMIC USES OF BAMBOOS. 



273 



the culm are rather thin, but, on the other hand, the wood is 

 very tough and light, so that there is hardly any use to which 

 timber can be put that this Bamboo does not serve. It is largely 

 used for building purposes, scaffolding, the frame of the house, 

 water-pipes, furniture, and carved ornaments ; for boats and 

 junks it is in constant request ; and it is the young shoots of P. 

 mitis which are so highly prized by the Japanese as a vegetable 

 food. It is not indigenous in Japan, but was introduced, 

 according to the author of the " Nippon Chiku Fu " (catalogue of 

 the Bamboos of Japan), about the year 1738 a.d. It was 

 carried from China to the Liukiu Islands, and thence to the 

 Province of Satsuma, whose princes claimed sovereignty over 

 those islands. The name Moso is, as Mr. Van der Polder (" de 

 Cultur der Bamboe in Japan," p. 11) suggests, probably that 

 of the importer, who certainly, as a lasting benefactor to his 

 country, deserved to have his fame so perpetuated. 



It would be tedious to go through these various species one 

 by one; it must suffice to say that all the larger Phyllostaches, 

 such as P. Quilioi, P. Marliacea, P. Ucnonis, P. Boryana, and 

 others, are used much in the same way as Phyllostachys mitis, 

 though they can hardly be said to compete with it. Aruudinaria 

 japonica (Metake) is also employed in the same way, and its 

 far- spreading rhizomes render it invaluable for strengthening 

 dykes and holding together embankments. For this latter 

 purpose some of the semi-dwarf and dwarf Bamboos, such as 

 B ambus a or Aruudinaria palmetto,, Aruudinaria Veitchii, B. 

 pygmcza, and others, are most useful, their roots making a 

 perfect network underground, and spreading with phenomenal 

 rapidity. 



One of the most prominent Bamboos as an article of com- 

 merce is certainly Phyllostachys nigra. It is largely used for 

 decorative purposes in building, and much of the Bamboo 

 furniture which is imported into Europe, and now so largely 

 sold, is made either of Nigra or the variety of Nigra known 

 as nigro-punctata. Walking-sticks and umbrella handles are 

 made of it, and its rhizome furnishes the cane known as 

 Wanghai. 



Phyllostachys Castillonis is evidently a garden sport, not 

 improbably of P. Quilioi, to which in form and manner of 

 growth it bears a strong likeness. It is only valued as a 



