Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-08-04
THE USEFUL BAMBOO.
YANKEE MACHINERY COMPLETES
WITH JAPANESE FINGERS.

Inc light bamboo CURTAIN - giving tne
Same privacy to suburban New Workers
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
appearance in this city under the name OF
sidarris, and they were found so useful
thatthey 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 so 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, and for the
benefit of that hamlet it may be necessary
to describe it. It is simply rolling shade
made Of thin strips Of split bamboo. with
round bamboo rod at top and bottom TO
give 1t strength and ropes running through
two small pulleys to raise 1t or let it down.
1t Is so loosely made that the wind whis-
ties through it readily, yet It has enough
solidity to make q shield from the sun. 1t
may be run up or down rs easily as any
shade, and II is not only protection
against the sun, but n 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
abouts 20 need amy description for the New
Yorker, urban or suburban, but there nre
some curious things about 1t that must at
tract the idle notice Of the summer loung-
err 1t has 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 II quarter OF an inch wide and a
sixteenth of an inch thick Wherever the
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
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
mer lounger Ia likely to wonder at the pa
thence ard 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 to order and by machinery.
IL is not in Toxic or Yokohama that the
bamboo curtains are made, but in New
York or Brooklyn. Sidarris is n good name
for them because 1t has far away sound,
and few people know what it means The
bamboo Is genuine product OF the tropics,
but the manufacturing Is all done on one
side or other Of thu East river-largely In
Brooklyn, and not far from the navy yard.
| This applies, however, only to the bamboo
shades and other bamboo work used in and
about 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
| New York and Brooklyn, are in Philhdel-
| phin, 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
| mHde In the east because the work is done
with machinery.
Beyond a few ornamental chairs and ia
hles, the bamboo curtain is the first popu-
| ian use to which bamboo has been put in
this country 1t probably will not be the
lust, for bamboo has habit Of making it.
self so useful wherever it goes that its nc
quaintance is cultivated. The raw mate
| rial has 10 he imported, for bamboo hnsnOt
| vet been successfully raised in this coun.
try. The Chinese in California have tried
| Il, but without any great success Some
| lonely trees grow In st. Augustine in Flor
| ida, but they are mere travesties upon the
| real bamboo of the tropics.
For commercial purposes bamboo comes
! TO this country IN the holds of sailing YES
sells, tied up in long cylindrical bundles,
aud the packages OF il that one may fire.
| quently see unloading In South street arc
not good samples OF che bamboo OF the East
| Indies, cxccpt for business uses. The inn
mense stalks, sometimes n foot thick and
G0feet long, seldom come here, because they
aro not needed. our bamboo goods are bet
ter made from small growths, and 1t is not
matchmaker whether thestalksR are straight
or crooked They are often crooked, but
they are easily Strengthened.
Our raw material" says maker OF
bamboo goods, comes principally from
China, Japan aud India In these three
countries we find more than 60 varieties,
ranging between feet and co feet in height
and half AN inch and s, TO- IL 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 IL will take.
For any OF these qualities no other wood
compares with H. IN some varieties the
Joints are only from five to eight inches
apart and in others they are upward OF five
feet npnrt. These larger kinds arc rare
and are used only In the mnnufacturs OF
the more costly furniture
"WLet bamboo articles do we maker a
great many, aid still not nearly as many As
we might, nor Us many as we probably
shall when Americans come to know bam-
boo better. We make Sidarris or Japanese
curtains, screens, fretwork, baskets and
hampers, fancy boxes, parasols, chairs,
stools. aower stands, settees, hatracks,
tables. eabinets, brackets, easels, portieres
scrolls aud fancy woodwork OF every de
se,iption, Most Of these things, You will
notice. are fancy articles. Palmer and
more useful things will come in time. Al
soon ns there Is demand for them we are
ready TO make half the furnishing and fit