1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
251 
The Bamboos and their Uses. 
Having occasion to look up some matters 
relating to the Bamboo tribe of grasses, we 
were reminded that, after the cereals and the 
forage plants, no grasses were so useful to 
mankind as these. We have often wondered 
that no attempt has been made to cultivate 
the larger species in this country; a few, 
dwarf kinds, six or eight 
feet high, have been in¬ 
troduced as ornamental 
plants, but there seems 
to be no reason why the 
tall and useful kinds 
should not have been 
grown in the southern 
portion, at least, of our 
country, and we have no 
doubt that some may be 
found that will succeed 
in the Middle States. 
We have one native spe¬ 
cies of the Bamboo tribe, 
the cane ( Arundinaria) 
which forms extensive 
brakes in the Southern 
States, and extends to 
Virginia and Southern 
Illinois. As several of 
the gigantic Bamboos 
grow in the colder parts 
of Japan, and others are 
found at an altitude of 
several thousand feet on 
the Himalayas, it is high¬ 
ly probable that some 
species are sufficiently 
hardy to succeed over a 
large portion of our ter¬ 
ritory. There are some 
120 species of the Bam¬ 
boo tribe, divided into 
about 20 genera; these 
are mostly natives of 
Asia, but one has been 
found in Africa, and sev¬ 
eral in South and Cen¬ 
tral America. The larger 
Bamboos grow from 30 
to over 100 feet in hight, 
and from 6 inches to a 
foot or more in diameter; like other grasses, 
the stem is marked by joints (nodes) at which 
point there is a transverse partition in the 
otherwise hollow trunk. These joints, from 
which the leaves arise, in time become bare 
below and give a peculiar appearance to a 
forest of Bamboos, as shown in figure 1. The 
leaves are small in proportion to the size of 
the plant, being rarely much over 18 inches 
long, and 2 to 3 inches wide; are clustered at 
the top of the stem. When growing in an 
isolated clump, the leafy tops of the tall 
steins curving gracefully outward, the whole 
resembles a huge sheaf and is a picturesque 
object. The flowers are in branching panicles, 
the individual spikelets often being very 
small, not larger than those of the Oat, 
though larger in others; the seed is about 
the size of a grain of rice. Some Bamboos 
flower annually ; others require 20 or 30 years 
to become sufficiently mature, and with these, 
the stems often become so much exhausted 
that they die after producing a crop of seeds, 
new stems springing from the roots. On 
more than one occasion the seeding of the 
Bamboos has averted a famine ; one of these 
was in 1864, in Soopa, a district on the west 
coast of India; it is stated that some 50,000 
persons came from other districts to collect 
the seeds, which formed in many cases their 
sole subsistence. The leaves are used to 
cover the roofs of houses, to stuff beds, and 
afford a forage for horses. To enumerate 
the uses to which the stems of Bamboos are 
put would be as difficult as to catalogue the 
uses of wood. In some eastern countries, 
the stems enter largely into the construction 
of the house, and of most of the furniture 
within it. They serve as the masts and spars 
of the Chinese junks, and when split are the 
material of the sails, while the rigging is 
made from the fibres. Indeed, stems of 
different kinds and sizes serve from walking 
canes and sticks for supporting plants, up to 
nearly every purpose for which we employ 
scantling. The joints in the larger stems are 
from one foot to over two feet in length, and 
from 4 to 12 inches in diameter. These (fig. 2) 
are sometimes nearly solid, while in others 
the hollow portion is much larger. They are 
converted into a great variety of receptacles, 
for solids and liquid, and serve as baskets, 
boxes, barrels, jugs, etc. Split in various 
degrees of fineness, the stems afford the ma¬ 
terial for mats, blinds, screens, etc, ; the 
fibre makes strong cordage, and is good paper 
stock. The stems even afford an article of 
food, the young tender shoots being cooked 
and eaten. Some of the more tropical Bam¬ 
boos bear, what is remarkable in grasses, a 
berry-like fruit. An envelope that surrounds 
the pistil, in some genera, becomes fleshy as 
the grain ripens, and in one species is, when 
mature, “the size of a largish pear;” this, 
when cooked, is edible, though without much 
flavor. Though Bamboos grow wild, the 
Japanese and Chinese at least, do not trust 
to chance for a supply of so important a 
plant, but cultivate it; in their languages are 
treatises entirely devoted to Bamboo culture. 
Since the above was in type, we had a con¬ 
versation with a young Japanese friend upon 
the Bamboo. He informed us that a year or 
two ago a relative of his sent something like 
200 different varieties of Bamboos to our 
Department of Agriculture at Washington. 
Inquiry was made at the Department con¬ 
cerning these plants, in order to learn where 
they had been planted, and what success had 
attended the experiment. Reply came from 
one of the officers that all that was known 
about the Bamboos was the fact that they 
had been received. The former Commis¬ 
sioner, it is supposed, sent or took them to 
some Southern State, but there is no record 
of the matter at the Department. If any of 
our Southern friends know of where these 
Bamboos were planted and how they have 
succeeded, we shall be glad to hear from them. 
A New Class of CSrape Vines—Tu¬ 
berous BSooted. —Cochin China, which has 
within the past few years added many valu¬ 
able flowers to our gardens, now promises a 
I decided novelty in the way of grape-vines. 
The gardener in charge of the government 
garden at Saigon, the capital of the French 
possessions in that country, has made known 
some remarkable grape-vines found there. 
As they are mentioned as “vines,” we infer 
that there is more than one species or vari¬ 
ety ; they have tuberous roots and annual 
stems, their manner of growth being described 
as similar to that of the Hop. The vines are 
said to run from 30 to 50 feet, and to bear 
clusters their whole length. The gardener, re¬ 
ferred to, speaks of the fruit mainly with 
reference to its wine-making qualities, and 
merely incidentally states that, where he has 
added lime to the soil, the grapes are “ very 
good.” It appears that similar vines also grow 
in Soudan, in Africa, as one of the large 
French seed-houses advertises seeds from 
both countries. The tubers are now said to 
be on the way, and are expected to be soon on 
sale. We have arranged to receive some of 
these, and hope to thus in due time ascertain 
whether these singular herbaceous, tuberous- 
rooted vines have any value in this country. 
■ ■ - 
Are ISotase BMsaiais Injurious to 
licalili. —The old notion that house plants 
render the air of 
a room impure 
is so generally 
believed that a 
number of ques¬ 
tions on the sub¬ 
ject come to 
us very often. 
That plants at 
night may take 
up oxygen and 
give off carbon¬ 
ic acid, a poison, 
wp ll known Fig. 2. —A JOINT OF BAMBOO 
is wen Known. wm[ SECTION 0P STBM . 
But a great 
many plants will not vitiate the air of 
a room to the extent that will the burn¬ 
ing of a small lamp or the breathing of a 
single person. Practically, the effect of 
