The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-07-30
A CURIOUS REED.

countries where it grows, and espe-
cially among the Chinese. Indeed, we
have it from good and reliable au-
persons who have actually
tasted of this peculiar edible In various
forms of culinary preparat1on-that 1t
really is a most excellent and whole
some vegetable, somewhat similar IN
flavor and general appearance, when
served up on the table, to the common
garden asparagus of our climes. Only
the green shoots are used, when quite
young and tender, and these, as already
stated, are prepared in a variety of
ways, more commonly boiled and eaten
with sauce. Sometimes they are
picked, or else stewed with spice and
sugar and put up as preserves, which
a ready sale at all seasons of
the year, and, Of truth. are uncOm-
monty palatable. The Buddhist
priests, who are required to abstain
from all kinds of meat, make a very
extensive use of this article of food, as
it is both nourishing and comparatively
cheap.
It does, indeed. seem "rather queer"
to class the bamboo among the esculent
productions of the vegetable kingdom,
when we consider the enormous size it
attains for this curious reed not unfre-
quently grows to the prodigious height
of one hundred and fifty feet or more,
and as it rises majestically far above
the tallest trees it's delicate green
foliage gracefully waves and mods at
every breath of wind, like a tuft of
long plumes. It's stalk is cylindrical in
shape, very smooth and glossy, of a
light yellowish green, and intersected
with large knots. The branches start
from the very top of the stalk, and
bear an abundance of leaves.
The bamboo is often planted and
raised in thick hedge rows around gar
dens and large estates in China and the
South Sea Islands !; and when the wind
sets all those gigantic reeds in motion
they produce a strange, weird music
which at once astonishes and in a
heard the like of it before. The dry
stalks, hard as steel without and hollow
within, creaking and swaying to and
fro and rubbing against each other,
sigh and wall like so many plaintive
Eolian harps, sometimes holding the
listener spellbound with the poetic
charms of these incomprehensible mel
odies.
The rapidity with which the bamboo
grows is something perfectly marvel
lous, and might we'll be questioned were
it not we'll authenticated. It is at the
rate of about four inches in twenty-four
hours, and even more than this in GER
tain regions.
On the Philippine Islands whole
towns are built of bamboo-houses and
furniture, and even kitchen utensils, all
being fashioned out of it. To be sure,
these houses are but one story high.
and have none of the comforts and con-
veniences of our dwellings; they are
little more than cabins, and the furni-
ture in them is, of course, of the most
primitive description. Frail is the
structure, and exposed to immediate
destruction in the event of a storm or q
confagration, but it answers the Ma
lays purpose full we'll; it is at most but
temporary shelter. And then, again,
he has not far to go for his lumber.
Selecting a suitable spot on the banks
OF a river close to the outskirts of some
forest, or even in it's very depths, he al
once proceeds to erect his house, clev.
erly mating together or braiding the
ban boo stalks, or fastening them to-
gether with flexible reeds and plant
canes of lesser growth. In few hours
the edifce is ready for occupancy.
The bamboo is also converted into
aqueducts for conduit pipes for supply
ing towns and villages with water from
neighboring rivers and ponds. Strong
and durable agricultural implements
and farming tools are manufactured
from it, as also water buckets, scales
trucks, hods, and the various descrip
lions of poles and rods which are used
by huckstors and porters and water
carriers.
In China and some portions of the
East Indies a very common mode Of
transporting heavy burdens is to carry
them along in pair of huge scales
depending from flexible bamboo rod
worn across the shoulders somewhat
like a yoke.
The Chinaman's broad brimmed ha'
is made of split and braided bamboo
the handles of his parasols and fans are
quantity carved out of bamboo; the
split stalk is woven into baskets O.
every possible shape and size, and also
furnishes the material for beds anC
bedding, chairs, brooms and lanterns
for sail-yards and scaffoldings, and
and cordage even. The Celestial't
opium pipe, the very paper he writes
on, and the pencil with which he traces
the hieroglyphie signs and character
are all obtained from the seemingl!
inexhaustible plant, or tree, as it ma.
we'll be called.
The roots of the bamboo are chief,
used for carving into those grotesqu'
little figures and intricate knick-knack
upon which the patient Monaghan
spends 80 much time and labor and in
genuity, and often for such slende
remuneration.
There grows quite abundantly on the
Molucca Islands a species of bamboo
which is so hard that it emits sparks Of
fire when the axe is applied to it. tt
wood actually blunts the shapes
knives. The knots or Joints are encasei
in rugose sheaths hard as steel, and
rough and grained like shagreen
These are used to polish metals ant
ivory.
The natives of the aforesaid island!
aud also the Japanese make quite {
variety of fancy articles with this cane
such as flutes and whistles and lone
stem pipes, known as onlun1ets, as vel
as fishing rods and arrows and poisoned
iavelins and pixies and darts, the tips o.
which are sharpened to fine point anc
hardened in the fire, so that the dart,
aimed as it is with unerring precision
seldom fails to run Though and through
the victim it is hurled at.
Bamboo canes and switches are toe
we'll known and too generally i'll use tC
need any description here. Suffice it tx
say that they have become an important
article of commerce, and, being highly
valued on account of their great fexi
bility and durability, they always com
mand good prices.
The circumference of some shoots OF
bamboo has otter been a matter of won
der, considering the remarkably short
space of time required for such pro
digious development. The queen Of
France, Marie Antoinette, was presented
by the emperor of China with rare
specimen of this abnormal growth OF
the bamboo pair of sery handsome
breakfast trays, each of them measuring
about forty inchss in diameter, and,
what is more wonderful still, carved
out of a single solid section of one OF
these gigantic canes.