Part V.] Pearson: Note on the Utilization of Bamboo. 25 
forest and that the chances of them all flowering at the same time are 
very remote ; secondly, that though the flowering may take place in one 
catchment area, or even over a whole district, at one time, the areas 
covered by bamboos are so vast that raw material will always be avail¬ 
able from other localities, though the cost of extraction may be slightly 
increased for a time ; and again dry culms do not disappear at once, so 
that the period during which the new crop is coming into existence may 
be partly tided over by extracting the dry culms to supply the mill; 
and lastly both Bambusa polymorpha, Bambusa arundinacea * and 
Melocanna bambusoides* only flower at long intervals. 
6. Felling of bamboos. 
Botation on which to cut bamboos. —Bamboos have only been cut on a 
fixed rotation in places where the demand exceeds the supply. This 
is the case in the Lansdowne Division of the United Provinces, whe e 
the rotation is fixed at two and three years according to locality. 
We know nothing about the rotation for cutting Bambusa polymorpha, 
Bambusa arundinacea , Cephalostachyum pergracile and Melocanna 
bambusoides with which four species we are chiefly concerned. 
On page 18 under the heading “ Number of culms put out each 
year ” it was stated that the proportion of new culms, to old was as 
follows :— 
Bambusa arundinacea . 
I\'ew. 
. 1 to 
Old. 
3-42 
Bambusa polymorpha . 
. 1 
to 
4-22 
Cephalostachyum pergracile 
. 1 
to 
2-93 
Average 
. 1 
to 
3-52 
The ratio therefore stands at 1 to 3-52, or say, as 1 to 4. It, there¬ 
fore, requires four old culms to produce one new culm. Based on these 
figures, it takes four years to replace the old culms, leaving arithmetical 
progression out of the question. Now as the outturn from the areas 
dealt with in this report are capable of yielding annually a far greater 
quantity of material than any mill is likely to require for the present, 
the proposed rotation on which the sustained yield is based is put for 
*Note. —It is understood that B. arundinacea has flowered heavily in certain local¬ 
ities of Kanara during the rains of 1911. Since the above was written the writer has 
noted nearly universal flowering of M. bambusoides in the Cachar Division of Assam. 
[ 182 ] 
