4. Guadua.—

The giigantic bamboos of the Old World belonging to the genera Bambusa and Dendrocalamus are represented by those belonging to Guadua in the tropics of the New World. In order to ascertain how far a supply of this kind of bamboo would be available, Mr. Routledge and some other gentlemen interested in the matter sent Mr. Thomson (late Superintendent of the Cinchona Plantations, .Jamaica) on a mission to Venezuela, to explore the bamboo forests. The species met with by Mr. Thomson appeared to be Guadua amplexifolia. He reports:—This guadua grows about the same size as Bambusa vulgaris, viz., from 50 to 60 feet in height, with culms 5-6 inches in diameter. The latter are much thicker in texture than the bamboo stems, and their fibrous tissue is much tougher, so that much more labour is required to cut them down than in the case of the bamboo. And this applies equally to the young stems, i.e., young shoots of bamboo, say 10 feet high, are easily cut with a knife, but each stem of guadua page 34 of a corresponding size and expansion requires more than one blow from a sharp axe."

The bamboo (guadua) forest over large extents of country is generally of the same age, and consequently the plants flower and die simultaneously, a circumstance which only happens after protracted intervals, but which when it does happen is succeeded for a time by an almost total disappearance of the plant. This had happened in Venezuela about the time of Mr. Thomson's expedition and Mr. Routledge informs us: "I regret to say that I do not, see much inducement to proceed with the undertaking I proposed. To do so would involve laying out regular plantations, and having regard to the uncertain political condition of the country, the difficult and dear labour, and some other drawbacks, the prospect of commercial success is not sufficiently tempting for me and my friends to embark in the undertaking."