The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-08-07

Products Of q Foreign Wood
Are Popular, but Contrary to General
Belief They Are Made In This Country.
Japanese Curtains.
The light bamboo curtain Is giving the
same privacy to suburban New Workers
this yeGr 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
appearance in this city under the name Of
sidarris, and they were found SO useful |
that they soon became popular favorites. |
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
fence must come down, and the piazza,
usually not far from the street, was 30 ex-
posed that It was useless for comfortable
lounging 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 a piazza. Like
most things that are cheap, pretty and use
full, 1t has made place for itself.
Possibly there may be some remote ham,
let in the United States where the bamboo
curtain has not yet appeared, aud for the
benefit of that hamlet 1t may be necessary
to describe It, 1t is simply rolling shade
made of thin strips of split bamboo, with a
round bamboo rod at top and bottom to
give it strength and ropes running through
two small pulleys to raise it or let it down.
It is so loosely made that the wind whis-
ties through 1t readily, yet 1t has enough
solidity to make shield from the sum- 1t
may be run up OF down as easily as any
shade, and IL Is not only protection
AGAINST the sun, but q valuable screen to
shield the summer lounger from the gaze
OF every passerby. 1t is used only upon the
piazza.
The bamboo curtain is too familiar here
labouts to need any description for the New
4 Yorker, urban or suburban, but there are
some curious things about 1t that must at
tract the idle notice Of the summer loung-
Ter. 1t has a foreign look throughout and
seems to bear the delicate odors of lacquer
and fine cabinet work that we associate
with Japan. The Stats are tiny things,
perhaps a quarter of an inch wide and a
sixteenth of an inch thick. Wherever the
5 marks of joint appear, they are not in one
Stat or two, but in enough of the stats to
cover foot or more in height, and each
Lone exactly over the one below it, showing
THAT all those stats have been deity cut
from one stalk of bamboo. So neatly ana
: evenly is this cutting done that the sum.
linz Lam 10 Ealv In MT ia nj
: 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
ican citizens, and all the foreign look is
! manufactured to order and by machinery.
= II is not in Toxic or Yokohama that the
l. bamboo curtains are made but in New
York or Brooklyn. Sidarris Is n good name
for them because it has u far away sound
and few people know what it means. The
II bamboo is a genuine product Of the tropics
\ but the manufacturing is all done on one
\ side or other of the East river-largely In
Z Brooklyn, and not far from the navy yard
y This applies, however, only to the bamboo
, shades and other bamboo work used in and
n about this city. Nearly every large city il
. the country has at least one factory where
d bamboo goods are made. Some Of the
p. HtTBtsb Vi lDSSc ldCIOrlcS, dlttr luOaC VI
New York and Brooklyn, are in Philadel
phia, st. Louis and San Francisco. In al
" of these factories, although the price Of
labor is 20 times higher than in Japan, tn,
y goods are made as cheaply us they can b,
made in the east because the work is dom
: with machinery.
Al Beyond a few ornamental chairs and Ia
bles, the bamboo curtain is the first popu
= mr. use to which bamboo has been put il
=, this country. 1t probably will not be tn
z last, for bamboo has u habit of making II
" self SO useful wherever it goes that its &C
Iquaintance is cultivated. The raw mate
rd rial has to be imported, for bamboo has no
Il set been successfully raised in this eoun
~ sry. The Chinese In California have trie'
It, but without any great success Som
= Lonely trees grow in St. Augustine in Floi
#, ia, but they are mere trayesties upon tn
~ zeal bamboo of the tropics.
isl For commercial purposes bamboo come
Ito this country in the holds of sailing YES
sells, tied up in long cylindrical bundles
and the packages of it that one may fire.
luently see unloading in South street ar
= not good samples Of the bamboo of the Eas
~ Indies, except for business uses. The in
mcnse stalks, sometimes u foot thick an
90 feet long, seldom come here, because the
are not needed. Our bamboo goods are be-
ter made from small growths, and it is nc
r much matter whether the stalks are straigh
, or crooked They are often crooked, bu
they are easily Strengthened.
"Our raw MATERIAL" says a maker {
bamboo goods comes principally fror
China, Japan and India. In these thre
i countries we find more than GO varietie,
! ranging between 2 feet and 60 feet in heigh
w. and half an inch and S, 10, 12 inches j
diameter. Every one Of these varieties
noted for its durability, its great tentlenc
to bend when steamed, its unique prupert
If splitting into pieces of any thickness
, desired, and the high polish it will tax,
For any of these qualities no other WOO
= compares with it, In some varieties tn
joints are only from five to eight inche
RIapart, and in others they are upward OF fiy
feet apart. These larger kinds are rar
,c and are used only in the manufacture
the more costly furniture
What bamLo articles do we make2 .
,digreat many. and still not nearly as manya
ne we might. nor as many as we probabl
- shall when Americans come to know ban
~ boo better We make Sidarris or Japanes
ig curtains, screens fretwork, baskets an
or hampers, fancy boxes, parasols, chair
IN tools, flower stands, settees. hatrack
tables, cabinets, brackets, easels, portiere
II, scrolls and fancy woodwork of every d
st scription. Most of these things, you wi
or notice, are fancy articles. Palmer an
:. more useful things will come in time. A
y soon us there is demand for them we a
rs, ready to make half the furnishing and f
a ting of house from bamboo.
no DO not confound bamboo work wit
s. goody made of rattan, Bamboo il hollo
and knotty, while rattan is solid ar
lhbrous Rattan is product of n species
,alm tree and has little in common wit
= bamboo We make in this country abo'
~ $500, COO worth Of bamboo goods every year
81 New York Sun.
------------ 4a-g
The Vest a Minor Garment.
a. The waistcoat has always been garmel
:" of minor consideration. II APPEARED al