Bamboo Work

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The stems of bamboo plants are very strong, but hollow, with the exception of partitions at the nodes; and to these two qualities is due the great popularity and usefulness of bamboo canes, which to the Chinese, Japanese, indo-chinese, and West Indians are essentials to everyday life, and have been so for many centuries to the European they have been known popularly for only a few years. Bamboo stems resemble the stems of all grasses in being jointed; they are hard, light as regards weight, elastic, and, as has been said, hollow, con taining only a light, spongy pith, and the parti tions at the nodes, these partitions increasing the strength of the stems greatly. Most bamboos are of approximate circular section, but one species is square; this, when three years Old, has a sectional area of one square inch.