Bamboo work

 

This Handbook contains, in a form convenient for everyday use, a comprehensive digest of the knowledge of Bamboo Work, scattered over nearly twenty thousand columns of Work - one of the weekly journals it is my fortune to edit and supplies concise information on the general principles of the subjects on which it treats.

In preparing for publication in book form the mass of relevant matter contained in the volumes of Work, much had to be arranged anew, altered, and largely rewritten. From these causes the contributions of many are so blended that the writings of individuals cannot be distinguished for acknowledgment. A portion of the matter is quite new, having been written especially for this volume.

Readers who may desire additional information respecting special details of the matters dealt with in this Handbook, or instructions on kindred subjects, should address a (question to Work, so that it may be answered in the columns of that journal.)

Bamboo canes are the stems of giant grasses belonging to the genus Bambusa and allied genera, whose species are found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The allied genera include Arundinaria, Arundo, Dendrocalamus, Gigantochloa Melocanna, and some others; and their species, numbering, altogether two or three hundred, if not more, may be as small and slender as pampas grass, or as large as the Gigantochloa aspera of Java, which in one instance was found to be 170 ft. high, and whose stem may be more than 20 in. thick.

Except only one or two species, bamboos are indigenous to some particular locality; the principal of these exceptions is Bambusa vulgaris, which is cultivated extensively in sub-tropical Asia, the West Indies, and South America, and which has a height of from 20 ft. to 120 ft., the stems of the larger kinds having a diameter of from 4 in. to 8 in.

All bamboo plants have stems that are very slender in proportion to their height, and these stems grow to their full length without any branches forming; when at their greatest possible height, the plants throw out straight, horizontal branches at the top, and these form a dense thicket. All bamboo plants shoot forth jointed root-stocks or rhizomes beneath the surface of the ground, and from one of these may grow from ten to one hundred stems.

The stems of bamboo plants are very strong, but hollow, with the exception of partitions at the nodes; and to these two qualities is due the great popularity and usefulness of bamboo canes, which to the Chinese, Japanese, Indo-Chinese, and West Indians are essentials to everyday life, and have been so for many centuries; to the European they have been known popularly for only a few years. Bamboo stems resemble the stems of all grasses in being jointed; they are hard, light as regards weight, elastic, and, as has been said, hollow, containing only a light, spongy pith, and the partitions at the nodes, these partitions increasing the strength of the stems greatly. Most bamboos are of approximate circular section, hut one species is square; this, when three years old, has a sectional area of one square inch.

The species of Bambusa number about thirty; all those of similar height have much the same appearance, the only marked difference being the stem, which varies in colour through dozens of shades, and in size from a diameter of the human finger to a diameter of twenty-two inches.

Perhaps the most beautiful and typical bamboo is B. arundinacea, and it is this plant that is illustrated by Fig. 1. There is little doubt but that this is one of the most useful bamboos of which the Western peoples have any knowledge.

Bamboo plants flower but rarely, but when flowering does occur, a large amount of seed results. Some of the Indian bamboos bear berries, the species noted in this respect being Melocanna bambusoides, on which grows an edible and fleshy fruit, from 3 in. to 5 in. long, having the shape of a pear; M. bambusoides grows to a height of 70 ft. or 80 ft., and attains a diameter of 12 in. Another berry-bearing bamboo is the Nandina domestica of China and Japan, which is used chiefly for decorative purposes, and whose berries are red.

A silicious solution contained by the stems of some bamboos, amongst them Melocanna bambusoides, already mentioned, is known as tabasheer. This hardens to a white, opaque, or sometimes translucent, variety of opal, which breaks up into what appears to be dry starch of irregular size and shape. A suggestion has been made that the presence of tabasheer in a bamboo plant denotes disease, or is caused by some previous injury. Tabasheer will absorb its own weight of water, being then quite transparent; calcined and powdered, it is of high esteem in India as a medicine.

It would not serve any useful purpose to tabulate here all the species of bamboo that are known; but perhaps the names, sources, and the leading characteristics of the principal bamboo plants may be found of use. The table on the following page gives an arbitrary selection of bamboos to the number of about thirty; the complete list would number two or three hundred.

The use of bamboo in Great Britain and the wes- tern part of Europe generally is increasing, but as yet most of its applications are in furniture making. Compared with China, Japan, India, and tropical America, its use in this country is restricted, due, of course, to its being a new material, practically. Europeans can have but little idea as to the great number of the exceedingly varied uses to which bamboo is put in the countries of its source. There is hardly any purpose for which iron, stone, or wood is used here but what is answered nearly, if not quite as well, in the Eastern countries named above by the use of bamboo.

It is interesting to give here a few brief notes descriptive of the many uses to which bamboo canes are applied, chiefly, be it said, in the East,

In China, the tender, but tasteless, bamboo shoots are used as food, being either boiled or pickled, the seeds furnishing a farina suitable for cakes. The gnarled roots are cut into fantastic carvings, or into handles for the Chinese lanterns, or are turned in a lathe to form oval sticks for the use of worshippers. The tapering canes are used for all purposes that poles can be applied to in carrying, supporting, propelling, and measuring, and in all cases where strength, lightness, and length are requisite. The joists of houses and the ribs of sails, the shafts of spears and the wattles of hurdles, the tubes of aqueducts and the rafters of roofs, the handles of umbrellas and the ribs of fans, all are made of bamboo.

The leaves are sewn in layers upon cords to make rain cloaks, swept into heaps for manure, matted into thatches, or used as cloths in which to cook rice dumplings. Cut into splints and slivers of various sizes, bamboo cane is worked into baskets and trays of every form and fancy, twisted into cables, plaited into awnings for boats, houses, and streets, and woven into mats which find employment in theatre scenery, house roofs, and casings for goods of all kinds. The chips are picked into a sort of oakum and mixed with shavings to form a stuffing for mat- tresses. The bamboo furnishes material for the bed and the lounge, chopsticks for use in eating, pipes for smoking, flutes and other musical instruments of a like nature, curtains for windows and doors, brooms, screens, stools, coops, stands, and almost every article of furniture that can be thought of.

Builders' scaffolds can be made of bamboo canes, and are found light and serviceable, for the material does not decay in water or in earth, and dryness makes it harder than ever; in proportion to its weight, it is very strong. Canes 4 in. thick may be used for scaffolds 25 ft. high, and such scaffolds will bear iron beams weighing 20 cwt. Bamboo poles, suitable for scaffolds, are obtainable 65 ft. high.

It is the ease with which bamboo canes may be transformed into serviceable articles that, perhaps, is one of the chief reasons for its wide use. Bamboo can be obtained nearly 2 ft. in diameter, and a section of such a cane can be fitted very easily with a bottom and a handle to form a basket or pail, for instance. Bamboo flower pots, from 3 in. to 1 ft. in diameter, having wooden bottoms, can be constructed at something under one penny each; bamboo is very durable in damp situations, and makes almost as good a flower pot as earthenware, whilst it has not the fragile nature of this latter material. In the Castleton botanical gardens, Jamaica, are some thousands of these bamboo flower pots, which, however, have not come much, if at all, into use in Great Britain.