The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1895-08-24
THE USEFUL BAMBOO,
Ths Chinese Utilize tho Plant In a Great
Variety of Ways,

The Chinese Utilize tho Plant In a Great
variety of Ways,
just go and look at your long,
slender bamboo fishing pole and try
70 fancy what q house would look
like built Of ijlat sort of thing. Yet
when a ChilH:.an wishes to build a
house he dool't hire an architect
and look up 81 contractor and turn
gray over plumbers and decorators.
lie just merely goes and plants Il few
bamboo roots. Then he goes on quiet
Iy attcnQi6g to his business and lets
rlcm GROW. in q few months he has
6 fine forest Of bamboo from 40 to so
feet high apd with stalks ranging
from half an inch to Is inches in di-
a1ncter. lie digs Il trench the shape
and siZo lie wishes his house and
proceeds to cut the trees he thinks
the proper size and sets them up in
lis trench, which he then fills up.
with the slcndoTer stalks he makes
r&,tWs and shingles it with bamboo
leaves The windows are delicate
lattice work Of bamboo, and the fur
rituro is OF slender bamboo, bent
and curled and plated. His water
bucket is a good big stalk sawed off
just below the joint and made as
deep as lie needs above it.
For a bottle he takes a slender
piece and treats it in the same way.
If in the confusion of building he
mislays his knife, he just takes a
good sharp edge of bamboo and does
just as well for everything, except
cutting bamboo, as if it were Sheffield
steel. While he is building he keeps
off the pangs Of hunger by cutting
the little tender shoots just as they
peep from the ground and cooking
them like asparagus. Of course we
all know how dangerous it is to move
at once into a new house, it is
likely to be damp, and so Mr.. Sin
Foo catches d severe cold. All lie
does is to run ont to his bamboo
tAicEct, gather a few leaves, boil
them and drink The tea. In a day
or SO he is all right and ready to en-
joy the delicious dinner Mrs. Sin Foo
has prepared in honor Of the roof
raiSinp.h She has delicate boiled
bamboo shoots, bamboo grains baked
in a bamboo joint with honey and
bamboo shoots candiod with sugar.
I can't tell you all they make of
bamboo. M0sts and cordage, kites,
fences, bridges, fans, pipes for car
Iying watCr over the ricefields, the
finest Of paper and in fact nearly
everything thoy use. The strangest
Of all uses ii 70 bore gas and oil wells
with it. They begin by twirling a
hollow bamboo pole where they wish
to sink the well. This gradually
works its way into the ground.
When sunk 10 its full length, they
la5tou another to the end of it and
Keep on twirling. This operation
they Keep up until they strike gas
OF oil, which comes gushing up
through the poles. They use them
aisof for bringing brine TO the surface
from the salt wells. And then Just
tlink how much cleaner, prettier
and moro graceful it is than our ugly
iron work! Apropos of this, I re-
member an incident of the dainty
LITTLE japanese folk who took part in
the Columbian exposition recently.
In the sDaco allotted for their village
was one Of our ordinary iron water
taps, 1t never occurs to us to notice
how hidcous they are, but the Japa-
ncso looked at it, sbuddered as one
man and at once set about hiding the
hateful object with clean, shining
Observation-Disclosures Star.