It will easily be observed, that these remarks are too general to warrant the establishment of species from all the bamboos enumerated ; but it is not im probable that a plant, so widely diffused, may consist, as before observed, of a greater number than are yet recognised.
The bamboo grows wild in most places of the east, and the warmer parts of the west, and is resorted to as occasion requires. Where the country is princi pally dependent on its use, it is cultivated in regular plantations ; and, in more ungenial climates, preserv ed by the curious in greenhouses. Its culture is dif ferent, according to soil and climate ; but apparently it succeeds best in low sheltered grounds, with rich, soft, spongy earth. Contact of the root with water is reputed to be immediately destructive, and too much humidity occasions gradual decay. 'ibis plant is propagated by shoots deposited in pits at the close of autumn or commencement of winter, eighteen inches or two feet deep; and if it be designed to ob tain bamboos of considerable size, the scyons are cut over as they spring up. Some scrupulous cultivators among the eastern take care to preserve the plant exactly in the same position, with respect to the car dinal points, as that in which it originated. The greater the number in a plantation, the more the chance of success, as they shelter each other in their progress. Their subsequent treatment depends en tirely on the uses to which they are to be converted, whether to profit or pleasure ; much care being be stowed on those designed for beauty or ornament only. They are propped up with rods of a proper height, by which they are trained and supported ; and, if complete plants, cut over in order to obtain suitable shoots, which are chiefly sought after ; be sides, this operation makes the root strike out and take a secure hold of the ground. In a rainy season it is always necessary to surround the plantation with a ditch, in order to drain off the superabundant hu midity otherwise be prejudicial. Vari ous expedients are followed to obtain good bamboos, of which one of the most usual is to take a vigorous root, with firm wood, and transplant it, leaving only four or five inches above the joint next the ground. The cavity is then filled with a mixture of horse.lit ter and sulphur. According to the vigour of the root, the shoots will be more numerous ; but they are destroyed at an early stage during three successive years ; and those springing in the fourth will resem ble the parent tree. It is affirmed that -no culture
can obtain any thing of larger size.
Scarcely has this plant been put in the ground be-' fore its utility becomes conspicuous.' The soft and succulent shoots, when just beginning to spring, or only some inches long, are cut over and served up to table, like asparagus. Like this vegetable also, they are earthed over to keep them longer fit for con.
sumpt ; and they afford a supply in succession du ring the whole year, though more abundantly in au tumn. They are also salted and ate with rice, or prepared after different other fashions. As the plant grows older, a kind of fluid of grateful taste and odour is secreted in the hollow pints, affording an agreeable beverage, and in sufficient quantity to satisfy several persons. If allowed to remain in the tree, a concrete substance, highly valued for its me dicinal properties, called Tabaxir or Tabascheer, is produced from it. The presence of the fluid is as certained by agitating the bamboo ; after some time its quantity gradually diminishes, and then the stem is opened to reach the Tabascheer. This substance, participating in nothing of a vegetable nature, has been supposed to be nearly allied to siliceous earths; it resists the impression of all acids, is indestructible by fire, and with alkalies forms a transparent glass. Notwithstanding its repute in the east, we are not aware that , it has yet been received into the Eu ropean materia medics. Besides the Tabascheer, many parts of the bamboo are said to be endowed with medicinal properties ; a decoction of the leaves is recommended for coughs and sore-throat; the bark for fever and vomiting ; the buds as a diuretic; and a compound of the root with tobacco-leaves, betel nut, and oil, is believed to form an efficacious oint ment. But setting aside its medical properties, it is highly valuable as an article of food, • for many of the poorer classes in the most populous countries subsist on it in times of scarcity. The seed which it produces is recorded, in Chinese history, to have preserved the lives of thousands ; the Hindoos eat it mixed with honey as a delicacy, equal quantities of each being put into a hollow joint, coated exter nally with clay, and thus roasted over a fire.