20 BULLETIN 1329^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
such as the stake bamboo, will prove excellent screens for unsightly 
outbuildings, bare wails, and for surrounding the borders of school 
grounds. In schools where manual training is taught the bamboos 
would furnish most excellent material for many kinds of handicraft 
activities. \I*L X, figs. 1 and 2.) For the first }^ears of the life of 
the bamboos it will be necessary to fence them, in order to protect the 
young shoots from being broken off. Protection will also have to 
be given when the shoots are coming through in spring. 
WINDBREAKS, HEDGES, AND SCREENS 
It is often desirable in farm, orchard, and grove work to protect 
buildings or certain trees and other plants from winds that may do 
injury. Bamboos lend themselves well to this use, particularly as 
windbreaks and tall hedges. Some of the ornamental bamboos serve 
well for the purposes mentioned. In the warmer sections of the 
South, and especially all that part of Florida south of Gainesville, 
as well as part of southern Louisiana, the hardy forms of Bamhos 
vulgaris and B, tulda will be found most suitable for the purposes 
here discussed. If one has canals, ditches, or watercourses on the 
farm, bamboos will thrive in such places. 
BAMBOOS AS FORAGE AND GRAZING CROPS 
Some of the smaller thicket-producing bamboos, like Phi/Uostachys 
nevinii^ may prove useful in many parts of the South for winter 
grazing. These plants produce a large quantity of leafy forage, and 
grazing, if not too heavy, does not seem to hurt them. Some pre- 
liminary testing has been done by C. S. Tait at Brunswick, Ga. 
Mr. Tait is growing the stake bamboo, already described, and finds 
that cattle eat it readily. A few small plants were sent him in 1915, 
and without any special care these had spread to such an extent that 
in 1919 they covered a space 40 by 45 feet. There are many thou- 
sand acres of more or less waste lands in the South where this bamboo 
would grow and where it would most likely prove a valuable addi- 
tion to the limited forage of the region. It should prove particu- 
larly useful for winter grazing, furnishing more fodder than the 
native wild cane. 
BAMBOOS FOR EDIBLE PURPOSES 
Young bamboo shoots constitute an important article of diet in 
oriental countries, particularly China and Japan. Considerable 
quantities of the canned shoots are imported into this countr3% 
chiefly for the use of oriental residents. From the records at hand 
it appears that the annual importation of such material is nearly 
450 tons. There are a number of bamboos tliat supply edible shoots, 
but the only important one the department has succeeded in estab- 
lishing in the Ignited States is Phi/Uostachys eduJis, alread,y de- 
scribed (PI. VI). Shoots of the large timber bamboo {P. haw- 
husoides) when properly handled may be serA^d as an edible dish. 
This bamboo, of which fine specimens are to be found in the Barbour 
Lathrop grove, near Savannah, Ga., has furnished material on 
several occasions for bancjuets and other functions. 
Tt is only after a bamljoo grove has iKM'ome very well established 
and is sending up culms 20 to 30 feet high that shoots suitable for 
