62 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
be to get a few stout well ripened shoots by autumn, 
— shoots that will bear strong pressure between the 
finger and thumb, without giving any indication 
of softness, for it is these which will produce strong 
and perfect blooms. The way to accomplish this 
is to place the plants a good distance from each 
other, and, as the young shoots form, they should 
be set wide apart, that they may enjoy full sun- 
light. From the earliest period of growth, it is 
necessary to look them over occasionally, with the 
design of encouraging such shoots as maintain the 
best position, and checking those whose tendency 
is to exclude others from a fair rate of growth, and 
destroy the symmetry of the plants. Weak shoots 
should be cut out, and disbudding practised freely. 
If two or three eyes burst from the same point, 
threatening to crowd across each other, a portion 
should be at once removed. — Paul’s Rose Garden. 
The Bamboo Cane ( Bambusa ). The bamboo is 
one of those surprising tropical grasses, of which 
we have no parallel in temperate climes. In My- 
sore they appear like clustered columns of some 
enormous and enchanted Gothic cathedral, rising 
in immense symmetrical clusters, varying in dia- 
meter at the base from six feet to twenty or thirty, 
and even twice that width. For eight or ten feet 
high, each individual of these clusters preserves a 
form nearly cylindrical, after which it begins gra- 
dually to swell outwards, assuming a graceful curve, 
and, rising to the height of sixty, eighty, or one 
hundred feet in the air, the extreme ends become 
horizontal, or gracefully droop. The clusters stand 
fifteen or twenty yards from each other ; and over- 
head, the interlacing curves of the extremities con- 
stitute a grand natural groined roof. The number 
of bamboos in each cluster, varies from twenty or 
thirty to two hundred, and the height from sixty 
to one hundred feet at the point of intersection of 
the curves overhead. Most of the bamboos are 
thicker than a man’s thigh, and are clustered so 
close as to be almost in contact. They then taper 
off gradually to the extreme end, where the point 
is not thicker than a quill. The joints are about 
eighteen inches apart, distinguished by a ring, and 
a set of small branches eight or ten feet long, 
which are also divided into joints. 
The rapidity of growth is astonishing; in one 
summer a shoot is said to start up to its whole 
length ; when they first spring out of the ground they 
are about as thick as a man’s wrist, and are highly 
polished, with extremely hard points, and as no 
lateral shoots are put out until they have attained 
their full height, they readily make their way 
through the thick ramified masses.* In confirma- 
tion of this, we may remark that a cane of bamboo 
in one of the clusters, occupying the south end of 
Chatsworth large conservatory, was found on mea- 
surement, to have arrived in six weeks, at the fol- 
lowing extraordinary dimensions. The whole of 
the growth took place during the two last weeks 
in August and the month of September, 1846. 
The height of the cane attained during that period, 
* Comp, to Bot. Mag. 
was 41 feet 11 inches, having 32 joints; the cir- 
cumference at the base was 8 inches, and at the 
extremity li inch. The greatest thickness oc- 
curred 8 feet 3 inches from the base; it was there 
9 inches, and the same thickness extended over 
four of the joints which were respectively distant 
from each other as follows : the lowermost of the 
four 1 foot 4 inches, the second 1 foot 4f inches, 
and the third and fourth 1 foot 5 inches. The two 
longest internodes occurred at 19 feet 8 inches from 
the ground, and were each 1 foot 6 inches, the 
cane being in that part 8 inches in circumference ; 
the joints at the base were only 11 inches apart, 
and were the shortest found on the cane. The 
temperature was, maximum 87°, minimum '60°. 
Bamboos are applied to many useful purposes, 
both in India, China, and Japan. The tender tops 
are used to form a pickle ; the stems are employed 
in a great variety of ways, such as making house 
furniture, cups, tubs, and boxes ; also in the con- 
struction of dwellings which are sometimes covered 
with the gigantic leaves of the banana ; in making 
water-pipes, and in the construction of fences. 
Several kinds of excellent paper are also manufac- 
tured from them, especially in China. In ancient 
times the Chinese connected bamboos together, 
and burnt the letters into them to form books. 
The Chinese touch-paper is made from a variety of 
bamboo called lang. The young sprouts are cut off 
early in the summer just as the leaves begin to 
grow, and when beaten fiat, are thrown into a lime 
pit to steep for a month ; they are then taken out, 
washed clean, dried in the sun, powdered and 
passed through a sieve. By the addition of clean 
water to this powder a pulp is made which, when 
dried, forms the paper. The people in the east of 
China use bamboos in a tender state ; in the west 
of China paper is made of hemp and linen ; in the 
north the bark of Broussonettia Papyrifera, Com- 
mon White Mulberry, rattan, straw, and silk. The 
substance called in India, tabasheer, is procured 
from the joints. 
Vegetation of Ceylon. The species which pre- 
ponderate in the northern province of Ceylon are 
different kinds of Acacia, mostly very thorny ; the 
Wood Apple (. Feronia elephantum), Limonia alta, the 
Mustard Tree (Salvadora persica), Carissa spina- 
rum, Gmelina asiatica, Pleurostylis Wightii, Eu- 
genia bracteata, Elaeodendron Eoxburghii, Ochna 
squarrosa, Cassia Fistula, Cassia Eoxburghii, and 
Memecylon tinctorium. These are chiefly shrubs 
and small trees. The large trees, which are mostly 
of no great size, are two or three species of Ter- 
minalia, Bassia longifolia, the Margosa (Azedir- 
achta indica), the Satin Wood ( Chloroxylon Swie- 
tenia), the Ceylon Oak (Schleichera trijuga), the 
Tamarind ( Tamarindus indica), the Palmyra 
(. Borassus flabelliformis), which is particularly 
abundant on the peninsula of Jaffna, and the far- 
famed Upas Tree ( Antiaris toxicaria). The mass of 
the herbaceous plants belong to the natural orders 
Scrophulariacece, Leguminosse, Eubiaceae, and Com- 
posite. — Gardner in Journ. Hort. Soc. iv., 31. 
