Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1895-03-14
THE USEFUL eAM66o.
The Chimes. rtiIIEc the Plant In = Great
Variety OF WAYS.

Variety OF Ways.
Just go and look at your long,
slender bamboo fishing pole and try
to fancy what a house would look
like built Of that sort of thing. Yet
when Chinaman wishes to build a
house he doesn't hire an architect
and look up q contractor and turn
gray over plumbers and decorators
He just merely goes and plants few
bamboo roots. Then no goes on quiet
ly attending to his business and let's
them grow. In u few months he has
Il fine forest of bamboo from 40 to so
feet high and with stalks ranging
from half an inch to IS inches in di-
amctcr. He digs u trench the shape
and size he wishes his house and
proceeds to cut tho trees he thinks
the proper size and sets them up in
his trench, which no then fills up.
With the slondcrcr stalks he makes
raftcrs and shingles it with bamboo
! leaves. The windows arc delicate
| lattice work of bamboo, and the fur
niturc Is of slender bamboo, bent
and curlcd and plated. His water
bucket is a good big stalk sawed off
just below the joint and made as
| deep rs he needs above it.
For II bottle he takes a slender
! piece and treats it in tho Same way.
! If in the confusion of building he
miAayS his knife, he just takes q
! good sharp edge of bamboo and does
! just as we'll 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 now house, it is SO
likely to be damp, and so Mr. Sin
Foo catches severe cold. All he
docs IL to run out to his bamboo
thiCkct, gather fow leaves, boil
them and drink the tea. In a day
or SO he is all right and ready to on
JOY the delicious dinner Mrs Sin Foo
has prepared in honor of the roof
raising She has delicate boiled
bamboo shoots, bamboo grains baked
in bamboo joint with honey and
bamboo shoots candied with sugar.
l can't tell You all they make OF
bamboo. Masts and coriage kites,
fences, bridges, fans, pipes for car
rying water over the ricefelds, the
finest of paper and in fact nearly
everything they use. Tho strangest
of all uses is to bore gas and oil wells
with it. They begin by twirling a
hollow bamboo pole where they wish
to sink the we'll This gradually
works its way into the ground.
When sunk to it's full length, they
faStcn another to tho end of it and
keep on twirlng This operation
they keep up until they strike gas
or oil, which comes gushing VI
through the poles. They use them
also for bringing brine to tho surface
from the salt wells. And then Just
think how much cleaner, prettie1
iron work! Apropos of this, 1 re
member an incident of the dainty
little Japanese folk who took part il
the Columbian exposition recently
In the space allotted for their village
was one of or ordinary iron water
taps. 1t never occurs to us to motto,
how hidcous they are, but the Japa
neSc looked ut it, shuddered as on,
man and n once set about hiding tn,
hateful object with clean, shining
bamboo. Washington Star.