BAMBOO. 
belief that wild-hogs rub themselves against it to 
obtain a cure of their wounds, 
BAMBOO,—botanically Bambusa. A genus of 
very gigantic exotic grasses, of the reed or bamboo 
tribe. Upwards of thirty species have been de- 
scribed by botanists, a considerable number more 
are believed to exist, and probably about a dozen 
are occasionally grown in the hot-houses of Great 
Britain ; but some have been assigned by botan- 
ists of the present day to other and recently- 
erected genera. They have a singularly inter- 
esting appearance, a great commercial value, and 
an exceedingly diversified and paramount econo- 
mical importance ; and yet they are imperfectly 
understood by botanists. A strong, jointed, creep- 
ing, subterranean root-stock serves as the trunk 
or stem ; and strong, light, graceful, straight, rod- 
like, shoots, soaring from the root-stock to a great 
height, appear to be stems, and are popularly call- 
ed so, but really possess the character of branches. 
When these have attained their full height, they 
send off horizontally, or at right angles from 
themselves, a series of rigid lateral branches ; 
and any full-grown series of shoots and offshoots, 
_ or of chief vertical branches and subordinate hor- 
_ izontal ones, is in consequence a dense tuft of 
| rigid, straight-lined vegetation. Theshootsare ex- 
ternally hard and coated with a powerful silicious 
secretion, resembling flint ; they are internally a 
series of cylinders, separated from one another 
at the nodes by strong horizontal partitions; and 
the cylinders are occupied generally with water, 
but sometimes with an opaque, white, flinty se- 
cretion, called tabasheer, and possessing some 
curious optical properties. 
The reed-like bamboo, Bambusa arundinacea, 
is the species longest and best known, and most 
diversifiedly economical; it was introduced to the 
hot-house cultivation of Britain from India, up- 
wards of a century ago; it usually grows to the 
height of about 40 feet ; it has been somewhat 
successfully tried, even in Scotland, in the open 
air against a south wall; and it is propagated 
from suckers in a good loamy soil. It is employ- 
ed in India, whole, split, or in sections, for house- 
building, house-thatching, scaling-ladders, rails, 
palankeens, wicker-work, mats, baskets, boxes, 
spear-shafts, bows, fishing-rods, carriers’ tents, 
boat-frames, and many cther purposes. The 
young shoots, when small and tender, are generally 
eaten in the same manner as asparagus, or boiled 
with milk, or made into broth with animal food, 
spices, salt, and water, or prepared and digested 
in the manner of a pickle—Most of the other 
species known in Britain are, like the Bambusa 
arundinacea, from India, but usually do not 
attain more than half its height, and, with prob- 
ably one exception, they are esteemed ornamental. 
- Several species of bamboo are natives of Amer- 
ica, and may not improbably be naturalizable, 
and made subservient to some valuable economi- 
cal purposes in Great Britain. “The bamboos of 
America,” says Humboldt, “offer the same ad- 
BAMPTON-NOTT. 319 
vantages as in India. The Guadua bamboo is 
solely employed for the construction of entire 
houses. The oldest and largest stalks serve to 
form the walls ; with the smaller ones the inhabi- 
tants form the main roof. The upper covering 
is composed of the young branches of the plant, 
furnished with leaves as they are, and of which 
they put many layers one over the other. The 
doors, the tables, even the beds, are made of 
bamboos. The advantages which the inhabi- 
tants of America find in making use of the plant, 
rather than of the very lofty and very hard tim- 
ber which surrounds them, are, first, the facility 
with which they cut them, and transport them 
to very great distances ; second, the small degree 
of labour which is required, since the inhabitants 
employ the plants entire, or only split length- 
ways into two parts; third, in its durability, 
which may be compared to that of the best tim- 
ber ; fourth, and lastly, in the circumstance that 
their houses, all open to the air, and protected 
from the heat of the rays of the sun by a wide 
and thick roof, preserve within doors a cool and 
agreeable temperature in the midst of the strong- 
est heat of the day. It is particularly in the 
mountain of Quindu, that the Guadua bamboo 
grows; it forms forests of many leagues in ex- 
tent, and appears to delight in elevated situations, 
which offer a mild temperature. It descends also 
into the very hot valleys, but is never seen on 
the high mountains. We have cut a great 
number of bamboos, and in all of them we 
have found clear water of an agreeable taste.” 
The Bambusa Guadua frequently attains the stu- 
pendous height of from 65 to 100 feet. The 
series of hollow cylinders within its stem is some- 
what regularly divided by the nodes or partitions 
at distances of from 11 to 12 inches. ‘The water 
within these cylinders, though containing traces 
of sulphates and chlorides, cannot be distinguish- 
ed from the purest water of springs, and affords 
a convenient and most grateful supply to travel- 
lers. 
The bogs and marshes of the southern counties | 
of England and Ireland may possibly, in a few 
years, be used for the highly profitable culture 
of the American bamboos, while the adjacent 
fields may be occupied with the arracacha from’ | 
the same land; and then longer and lighter stilts 
and leaping-poles than at present will be fur- 
nished to fenmen, more magnificent cover for 
wild fowl, better poles for punts and barges,— 
better spars for vessels,—lighter, stiffer, and more 
portable materials for bridges, rafts, hurdles, 
fences, and stack-supports,—superior shafts for 
wheel-carriages, for scaffolding-poles, rafters, roof 
side-timbers, flooring-joists and beams,—and a 
better material for every other purpose in which 
an elastic, stiff, straight, and durable material is 
required —Humboldt’s Plantes Equinoctiales.—The 
Materia Medica of Hindostan.—Loudon’s Garden- 
ers Magazine-—Boussingault’s Rural Economy. 
BAMPTON-NOTT. A long-woolled breed of 
