ON THE ECONOMIC USES OF BAMBOOS. 
275 
the calm are rather thin, but, on the other hand, the wood is 
very tough and light, so that there is hardly any use to which 
timber can be put that this Bamboo does not serve. It is largely 
used for building purposes, scaffolding, the frame of the house, 
water-pipes, furniture, and carved ornaments ; for boats and 
junks it is in constant request; and it is the young shoots of P. 
mitis which are so highly prized by the Japanese as a vegetable 
food. It is not indigenous in Japan, but was introduced, 
according to the author of the “ Nippon Chiku Fu ” (catalogue of 
the Bamboos of Japan), about the year 1738 a.d. It was 
carried from China to the Liukiu Islands, and thence to the 
Province of Satsuma, whose princes claimed sovereignty over 
those islands. The name Moso is, as Mr. Van der Polder (“ de 
Cultur der Bamboe in Japan,” p. 11) suggests, probably that 
of the importer, who certainly, as a lasting benefactor to his 
country, deserved to have his fame so perpetuated. 
It would be tedious to go through these various species one 
by one; it must suffice to say that all the larger Phyllostccches , 
such as P. Quilioi , P. Marliacect, P. Henonis , P. Boryana, and 
others, are used much in the same way as Phyllostackys mitis , 
though they'can hardly be said to compete with it. Arundinaria 
japonica (Metake) is also employed in the same way, and its 
far-spreading rhizomes render it invaluable for strengthening 
dykes and holding together embankments. For this latter 
purpose some of the semi-dwarf and dwarf Bamboos, such as 
Bambusa or Arundinaria palmata, Arundinaria Vcitchii , B. 
pygmcca, and others, are most useful, their roots making a 
perfect network underground, and spreading with phenomenal 
rapidity. 
One of the most prominent Bamboos as an article of com¬ 
merce is certainly Phyllostachys nigra. It is largely used for 
decorative purposes in building, and much of the Bamboo 
furniture which is imported into Europe, and now so largely 
sold, is made either of Nigra or the variety of Nigra known 
as nigro-punctata. Walking-sticks and umbrella handles are 
made of it, and its rhizome furnishes the cane known as 
Wanghai. 
Phyllostachys Castillonis is evidently a garden sport, not 
improbably of P. Quilioi , to which in form and manner of 
growth it bears a strong likeness. It is only valued as a 
