2 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. Ill 
and the pulp invariably spoilt by much hard and imperfectly digested 
matter. This has naturally given rise to a suspicion in manufacturing 
circles that bamboo is an unreliable material, variable in its composition 
and uncertain in yield, quality and cost. With a genus numbering some 
hundreds of species growing over a wide range of latitude and under 
widely dissimilar conditions of soil, elevation and climate, it would not 
v be surprising if considerable variation in results were found to really 
exist, but this investigation has been undertaken in the belief, based 
on a twelve years’ study of the subject, that so far as the leading and 
predominant species of India and Burma are concerned,—those which 
exist in quantities sufficient for, and under local conditions permitting 
of their economical exploitation,—all the serious variations referred to 
either do not exist or can be eliminated by suitable treatment, and those 
which remain are of no practical importance. 
2. Investigators have hitherto laboured under considerable disad¬ 
vantages owing to the little that was known of bamboo; of its species 
and their habitats, of the extent to which certain species dominate others, 
of the extent to which various species exist in commercial quantities and 
under exploitable conditions, of the best system of felling looking to the 
fact that want of proper precautions may result in injury to the clumps 
and restrict their reproductive powers, of the best age to cut the indivi¬ 
dual culm, and of the percentage of knots or nodes in each species. The 
Forest Economist’s report, which is now being published, clears up all 
this ground and establishes definite conclusions upon these points. I 
have had an opportunity of studying it while it was under preparation, 
and the course and direction of my own work has been considerably modi¬ 
fied in consequence. Had such a report been available ten years ago 
much misdirected energy would have been saved. To cite but one 
point:—it has been very naturally supposed that age is a matter of the 
first importance, and, as shown by Sindall (in his Burma report, 1906), 
this is not merely a supposition but a fact. Under the methods of 
treatment hitherto applied considerable weight has been attached to the 
question of age, and much importance has been assigned to the selection 
of bamboos based on their age and to the different degrees of treatment 
deemed necessary for stems of various ages. The Economist’s report 
now makes it clear that all this has been wasted effort, that no selection 
based on age is possible after the first year’s growth, that the proportion 
of one year old culms to the whole clump is not sufficient to make their 
separate selection of much value, and that even their distinctive appear¬ 
ance disappears after a few weeks drying ; in short, that whether it suits 
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