Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ... The system of reserving a due proportion of growing stems, by which systematic thinnings would be constantly obtainable, is so obviously advantageous, that I think it would entirely supersede the plan proposed by you, namely, growing bamboo like the sugar cane, and to replant after cutting the crop. Bamboo cuttings, though they root immediately, require to be planted a long time, certainly over two years, before they produce large and vigorous stems suitable for paper making. It is a pity that some method could not be devised for utilising the ripe bamboo stems in paper manufacture. Some years ago hundreds of tons of the ripe stems were exported from here to America, which stems, I have been informed on reliable authority, were made into paper; this trade was brought to a close owing to some difficulties in the monetary affairs of the merchant in New York to whom the bamboo was consigned. An almost incredible quantity of ripe bamboo is procurable from each acre of land; and I find that the ripe bamboo is used in China for paper manufacture. In a most interesting "Catalogue of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs " collection of products at the Philadelphia Exhibition, published by the authority of the Inspector-General of Chinese Maritime Customs, the following account is given of the process of treating the bamboo stems: --" The method of preparation from bamboo is as follows: the bamboo is stript of its leaves and split into lengths of three or four feet, which are packed in bundles and placed in large water tanks; each layer of bamboo is then covered with a layer of lime, water is poured on till the topmost layer is covered. After remaining in this condition three or four months the bamboo becomes quite rotten, when it is pounded into...
