Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-07
THE USEFUL Bamboo.
YANKEE MACHINERY COMPLETES
WITH JAPANESE FINGERS.

same privacy TO suburban New YorkeS
this year that the venetian blind has long
given to West Indians and other jewellers
in warm climates. Several years ago these
rolling curtains Of split bamboo made their
appearances in this city under the name Of
sidarris, and they were found % useful
that they soon became popular fayoriteA
particularly IN the suburban towns The
suburban New Yorker had fallen into the
habit Of living much In public when out
side the walls Of his house.
Fashion decreed long ago that the front
face must come down, and the piazza,
usually not far from the street. was 30 ex-
posed that il was useless for comfortable
Iouaging and demanded the same dress
that must be worn for walking or calling.
The bamboo curtain came to remedy this
evil and To give TO the American piazza
greater privacy and comfort. 1t Is cheap
enough for the smallest cottage. pretty
enough for the most expensive and useful
for everybody who has piazza Like
most things that are cheap, pretty and use
ful, it has made place for itself.
Possibly there may be some remote ham
let ia the United States where the bamboo
curtain has not get appeared, and for the
bens,hI of that hamlet il may BE- necessary
~ describe IT, 1t Is simply n rolling shade
made II thin strips VI split bamboo. with
round bamlsoo rod al top and bottom To
give IL strength aud ropes running through
two snail puileys To raise IL or let IL down.
II il ~ loosely made that the wind whis
ties through IL readily, yet IL has enough
.olidity 10 Rake IA shield from the sun. II
may be run gp or down as easily a. any
shade and il is not only protection
against the SIN, but valuable screen to
.Lipld the -IIiuner lounger from the gaze
ri every palsserby, IL is used only upon the
piazza.
The bamboo curtain IL too familiar here
aboutS to need description for the New
Yorker. urban og Iburban, but there are
sot4. curious tLiuss about it that must at
tr7tet The idle uutice of the summer loung-
er 1t las :. foreign look throughout and
seems 70 bear lie delicate odors of lacquer
aud fine cabinet work that we associate
sith Japan The Stats are tiny things,
..rliAp. 4 quarter Of an inch wide and
81 Ster.sh Of ~ inch thick. Wherever the
marks Of joint appear, they are not in one
stat OF TWO, but in enough Of the stats TO
cover foot or more in height, and each
one exactly over the one below it, showing
that all those Stats have been deity cut
from one stalk of bamboo. So neatly and
evenly Is this cutting done that the sum
nier louuger il likely to wonder at the pa
thence and dexterity Of the Japanese work
men who make these things.
But the patient Japanese workmen who
make these screens are usually good Amer
lean citizens and all the foreign look is
manufactured tn order and by machinery.
1t is not in Toxic or Yokohama that the
bamboo curtains are made, but in New
York or Brooklyn. Sidarris is a good name
for them because it has far away sound,
and fe,v people know what 1t means. The
bamboo Is genuine product of the tropics,
but the manufacturing is all done on one
side or other Of the East river-largely in
brooklyn, and not far from the navy yard.
his applies, however, only to the bamboo
shades and other bamboo work used in aud
abont this city. Nearly every large city in
the country has at least one factory where
bamboo goods are made. Some of the
largest OF these factories, after those of
NeS York and brooklyn, are in Philadel-
iha, st. Louis and san Francisco. In all
of these factories, although the price Of
labor is 20 times higher than in japan, the
goods are made as cheaply as they can be
nu,Ie in the east because the work is done
with machinery.
Bt} nnd "A few ornamental chairs and Ia
bles. the bam,oo curtain is the first popu-
lar ilee to which bamboo has been put in
his country. 1t probably will not be the
last tor bainhoo has habit of making it
self 80 useful wherever it goes that its nc.
quaintancc.is cultivated. The raw mate
rial has to be imported for bamboo has not
yet been successfully raised in this coin-
.ry The Chinese in California have tried
1t. but without any great success. Some
lonely trees grow in St Augustine in Flor
ida but they are mere travesties upon the
real bamboo ef the tropics.
For commercial purposes bamboo comes
to this country in the holds of sailing yes
-els, tied mp in long cylindrical bundles,
and the packages of it that one may FIRE,
quently see unloading In South street are
not good samples Of the bamboo of the East
indies, except for business Uses, The i'm
n,gnse stalks, sometimes "A foot thick and
~ feet lun.s, seldom come here, because they
are not needed. our bamboo goods are bet
tcr made from small growths, and it is not
much mat ter y neither he stalks are straight
or crooked They are often crooked, bu,
they are easily Strengthened.
"Our raw material, says n maker OF
oam boo goods, comes principally from
china. Japan and India In these three
eouulrit. see find more than GO varieties,
ranging between feet aud 90 feet in height
and half an inch and $, 10, II inches in
diameter Every one of these varieties is
noted for its durability, its great tendency
to bend when steamed, its unique property
of splitting into pieces of any thickness
desired, and the high polish it will take
For any Of these qualities no other wood
compares with it. In some varieties the
joints are only from five to eight inches
apart, ana in others they are upward of five
feet apart These larger kinds are rare
and are used only in the manufacture Of
the more costly furniture.
what bamboo articles do we make? A
great many, and still not nearly as many rs
we might, nor as many as we probably
shall when Americans come to know BAN
boo better We make sidarris or Japanese
curtains. screens, fretwork, baskets and
hampers, fancy boxes, parasols, chairs,
stools. flower stands, settees, hatracks,
tables, cabinets, brackets, easels, portieres,
scrolls and fancy woodwork of every de-
scription Most Of these things. you will
notice, are fancy articles. Palmer and
more useful things will come in time. As
Soon as there is demand for them we are
ready to make half the furnishing and fit
ting Of house from bamboo.
DO not confound bamboo work with
goods made of rattan bamboo is hollow
and knotty, while rattan is solid and
hhrous Rattan is II product of a species Of
palm tree and has little in common with
bamboo We make in this country about
$50 600 worth of bamboo goods every year. "
New York sun.