722 
Supplement to the '^Tropical Agriculturist" [April 1, 19C4. 
BAMBOO CULTIVATION IN JAPAN. 
David G. Faibcsild, Ageicultueal Exploeeb, 
U.S.A. 
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 valuable 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 applicable 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 1^ 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 equ il 
distance from each other at the rate of about 300 
to an acre, or 12 feet apart each way. It the 
soil is a dry one, the ball of earth and mots 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 heavy 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 plenty of rotted manure. If some 
of the plants die, they should be replaced by others 
so as to maintain as complete 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 semi-obscurity 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 culm?, 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 serperal 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 wei<jht 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. One the other hand, if left 
standing too long the wood becomes too brittle 
and loses in value, asd the forest besides is benefited 
by the cutting out of the four-year-old stems. 
The crop of new shoots is larger. This thinning- 
out process should be so done that aa few gaps as 
possible are rcade in the forest and the semi- 
obscurity below the mass of foliage is maintained, 
Tha crop of new shoots varies in size every 
alternate year. A poor crop would mean 6 to 
7 per cent of new shoots and a good crop 12 to 
14 per cent. As there are commonly 10,000 culms 
in a hectare* (or 4,545 in an acre) of properly 
planted grove ten to fifteen years old, this would 
mean the production of 600 to 700 culms per 
hectare for a light crop and 1,200 to 1,400 for a 
heavy one. These figures were very kindly 
furnished the writer by Dr. T. Shiga, chief of the 
imperial forest management in Tokyo, 
The experience of Mr. Tsuboi has been that some 
kinds of forest trees if standing in a grove prevent 
the growth of the bamboos near them. Oaks and 
chestnuts, he declares, are especially objectionable 
in this respect, while pessimmons do not seem to 
affect in the least the production of new bamboo 
shoots. The effect of weeds in a forest is undesir- 
able, and although comparatively few species are 
able to live in such a deep shade these should be 
dug out as from any cultivated field. Attention 
to these various details makes a great difference 
in the amount and quality of timber produced, 
A grove is not to be looked upon as merely a 
thicket and left to take care of itself, but as a 
plant culture which requires attention. 
One important element in the culture of this 
peculiar timber plant is the fact that a whole forest 
may bloom and die in a single season, and that it 
is rot possible — as yet — to tell beforehand when 
this blooming will take place. The intervals be- 
tween these periods are, however, so long that they 
are not taken into consideration by the Japanese 
farmer when he buys a bamboo gro>re. Little 
accurate information is obtainable regarding the 
length of life of the various Japanese species, but; 
Phyllostachys henonis has the reputation in Japan 
of blooming of tener than either P. quiliot, P. mitt's, 
or P. nigra, the other three important timber 
species, A small grove near Kawasaki which 
bloomed this season (1902) was reported by the 
owner to have once bloomed about sixty years 
before. As there always remain in the field a 
number of living rhizomes, after the death of the 
forest, these renew the latter in a few years, so 
that the actual loss to the owner does not include 
the cost of replanting. This is the case at least 
with the Japanese bamboos. As culms which 
have bloomed are poor in quality, the practice is 
followed of cutting them as soou as possible 
after they show sign* of blooming. 
In Jai;an, where bimboos and rice are often 
grown in adjoining plots of ground, some trouble is 
experienced from the underground stems spreiding 
into the neighbouring field. To prevent this a ditch 
2 feet wide and as many feet deep is dug about 
the grove and kept open by several re-diggings 
during the year. This method is said to be a satis- 
factory one. It is a difficult matter, however, 
after a field has once been planted in bamboos, to 
clear it satisfactorily for other crops, for there is a 
mass of these tough rhizomes that are very 
difficult to dig out. 
*About 2^ acres, 
