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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 6

South African Bamboo.—

South African Bamboo.—

During the past year Commandant J. H. Bowker sent to Kew a sample of the Bamboos which he informs us are found mostly on the northern slopes of the high mountain range dividing the east and west watershed of South Africa, and mostly on the most exposed sites. A paragraph extracted from the Natal Mercury having gone the round of the English papers, we received several inquiries about these Bamboos, and it may be useful to place page 48 on record the information we possess on the subject.

The plant is, doubtless, the Arundinaria tessellata, Munro, which has been long known to botanists, though singularly enough it has never been seen in the flowering state, and its true genus is, therefore, somewhat conjectural. General Munro remarks [Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. xxvi, p. 31] that it has "a remarkable and unusual range of elevation, from 500 to 6,500 feet above the sea." A whole district of South Africa is called "Bambus-bergen after it. Mr. Bowker writes:—"The bamboos are much used by the natives for spear handles, house-building, fences, and gates to sheepfolds, &c. They can be got from 3 feet to 25 in length, and in any quantity. I have used a rod made from it for many years past and found it superior in spring and strength to any other I could get. I think they could be turned to account as coach-whip handles, umbrella handles, walking sticks, &c.; the root grows into almost every shape, and could be cut into handles of different patterns."

The samples sent by Mr. Bowker were obligingly reported upon by Mr. Henry Howell, a wholesale merchant of such articles. The result is not very favourable, for which the character of the samples was possibly partly to blame. Mr. Howell writes:—"I have made a thorough inspection of the South African bamboos, and my opinion is that the canes which are regularly imported from China are far superior in every respect. It is, of course, impossible to judge of the larger and more perfect canes, as the only samples we have are very small, very short, and of very indifferent growth. I have some Chinese bamboos in my warehouse about 20 feet long, gradually tapering from about 1½ in. diameter to 1 in. at the point, and I should think nothing could surpass them in their adaptability for fishing rods, for which they are greatly used. The South African canes, unless far superior to the samples sent, would have no place in the market in competition with the Chinese. It is a pity the roots were not left on the bamboos, as possibly they may have had a character which would enable us to manipulate them to suit the taste of umbrella dealers. If you should have any specimens longer and larger than the ones in question I might be able to give a more definite opinion, but my impression is that if a large quantity of them (like the specimens) were offered in the market they would not find purchasers at anything like a remunerative price."