Part V.] Pearson: Note on the Utilization of Bamboo. 77 
more scattered, being generally denser along the dry rivulets than on 
the faces of the slopes. 
(3) Area of forest covered by bamboos. 
The area covered by bamboos which can be worked out to the main 
stream is 68,723 acres, of which 38,643 acres have been classified as 
first class bamboo area, and 30,080 acres as second class, owing to the 
relative poorness of the crop. From the map will be seen the general 
position of the area with reference to the coast-line. 
(4) Spedes of bamboos and mode of growth. 
The chief species occurring in the area is Bambusa arundinacea, 
a large bamboo, which in the more favourable localities above referred 
to grows 60 to 80 feet in height and 8 inches mid-girth. In the 2nd 
class areas it is about 30 feet in length and 6 inches mid-girth. 
The number of clumps, obtained by counting six sample plots in 
1st class area worked out to 64 per acre, containing a total of 149 new 
culms under one year old and 306 culms over one year old or a total of 
455 culms per acre. These figures are taken into consideration hereafter 
in calculating the possible yield. A very marked feature in the growth 
of this species of bamboo is the sheath of the side-shoots, armed with 
recurved points, resembling thorns, which forms a complete palisade to 
a height of 6 to 8 feet from the ground round each clump, and which 
renders extraction more difficult than is the case with the unarmed 
species. 
(5) Possible factory site. 
The most suitable factory site is at the village of Gumbala situated 
on the banks of the Gangavalli, above the tidal level, some 14 miles from 
the sea (see map). 
The area, in which the bamboos are most plentiful, starts just 
above Gumbala and stretches for 24 miles up the valley to the village 
of Arbail at the foot of the Ghats. The stream is suitable for floating 
over its entire length, except during the summer months, and 
possibly during the first two months of the rains. There exists a 
small Bunder or port on the coast, on a neck of land jutting into the sea, 
south of the mouth of the river at Tadri, which is a calling place for 
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