30 BULLETIISr 1329^ V. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTURE 
soil taken from the first one. The soil must be carefully worked 
aiid firmed around the rhizomes with the hands, and when all is 
finished a good watering should be given. A frame 6 feet wide and 
50 feet long will hold from 1,800 to 2,000 rhizomes of average size. 
With good care this frame should contain at least 1,200 plants by 
the following fall. The plants can stand in the frame all Avinter, 
and if there is considerable frost a little protection in the shape of 
straw or fine brush may be given. Between March 15 and April 15 
the plants may be lifted, divided, and set in nursery rows in the 
field, as already described. 
It is necessary to emphasize one point, and that is the time for 
lifting and dividing the plants and taking off the rhizomes. To 
get the best results this must be done in spring, just before the 
buds begin to push. It is at this season that very vital biological 
changes take place in the food supply of the plant, and especially 
in the reserve food supplies. If rhizomes are removed from the 
parent plant before these changes start there will be no growth or 
else a very feeble one, resulting in the development of a few sickly 
shoots, which soon die. On the other hand, if rhizomes are taken 
too late — that is, after new shoots have started and new branches 
and leaves are appearing — failure is likely to result. It is repeated, 
therefore, that it is of vital importance to do the dividing and take 
the rhizomes just before growth starts, which, for the group of 
plants now under discussion, the Phyllostachys forms, for most of 
the Southern States will be between March 15 and April 15. 
A combination of the frame method, using rhizomes, and the field 
method of growing the plants for two years in a nursery will serve 
as a rapid means of increasing the stock of both good plants and 
good rhizomes for home use or for sale. 
Inasmuch as the transportation of plants or clumps with soil 
attached is not without serious difficulties, chiefly on account of first 
cost and the danger of distributing crop pests, it is recommended 
that the rhizome method of getting a start have first consideration. 
This method presupposes a desire and intent on the part of the 
person receiving the rhizomes to give them the best of care. They 
can not be put away in a corner of the garden or field and left to 
fight weeds and drought. They must be cared for, and if this is 
done it is believed that success will follow. If groves are ever to be 
established in this country on a scale sufficient to make possible a 
new crop industry, some quicker method than the cumbersome, ex- 
pensive, and risky one of shipping clumps of plants about the coun- 
try must be adopted. 
The experience of 20 years has shown that bamboo culture is ex- 
tremely slow Avork. Really serious efforts to build up plantations 
would mean something along the line followed in the cooperative 
development of wood lots now being practiced in a number of the 
States or the cooperative tree planting and windbreak work of our 
northern Great Plains and certain of the Canadian Provinces. To 
establish wood lots and windbreaks, a certain amount of expert 
supervision in the initial stages of the work has been found neces- 
sary. Also, the need has been shown for providing suitable planting 
material, at least in sufficient quantity to enable those interested to 
get a fair start. 
