*Bambusa.—I wish to call the attention of all horticulturists who live in the southern and more favoured parts of these islands to the fact that there are several bamboos and bamboo-like plants from rather cool countries that are well worth planting. Nothing can exceed the grace of a bamboo of any kind if freely grown; but if starved in a crowded house, or grown in a cold dry place, where the graceful shoots cannot arch forth in all their native beauty, nothing can be more miserable in aspect. In cold bad soils and exposed dry places in the British Isles these bamboos have little chance; but, on the other hand, they will be found to make most graceful objects in many a sheltered nook in the south and southwestern parts of England and Ireland. We have some knowledge of the capabilities of one kind in this country. In a well-sheltered moist spot at Bicton I have seen Bambusa falcata send up young shoots, long and graceful, like the slenderest of fishing-rods, while the older ones were branched into a beautiful mass of light foliage of a distinct type. The same plant grows in the county of Cork to a height of nearly 20 ft. This is the best known kind we have. At Paris I was fortunate enough to observe various other kinds doing very well indeed, although the climate is not so suitable as that of Cork or Devon. These were Bambusa edulis, aurea, nigra, Simonii, mitis, Metake, and viridi-glaucescens, the first and last of this group being very free and good. All the others will prove hardy in the south of England and Ireland, though, as some of them have not yet been tried there, it requires the test of actual experiment. Those who wish to begin cautiously had better take B. Simonii, viridi-glaucescens, and edulis to commence with, as they are the most certainly hardy, so far as I have observed. The best way to treat any of these plants, obtained in summer or autumn, would be to grow them in a cool frame or pit till the end of April, then harden them off for a fortnight or so, and plant out in a nice warm spot, sheltered also, with good free soil—taking care that the roots are carefully spread out, and giving a good free watering to settle the soil. There are no plants more worthy of attention than these where the climate is at all favourable, and there are numerous moist nooks near the sea-side where they will be found to grow most satisfactorily, as well as in the south.
*Bambusa aurea.—A very hardy and graceful Chinese species, differing but slightly from B. viridi-glaucescens in size and habit, and forming elegant tufts with its slender much-branched stems, which attain a height of from 6½ ft. to 10 ft., and are of a light-green colour when
young, changing into a yellowish hue, and finally becoming of a straw-yellow when fully grown. The leaves are lance-shaped acute, light green, and are distinguished from those of B. viridi-glaucescens by having their under surface less glaucescent, and the sheath always devoid of the long silky hairs. The preliminary remarks on culture, etc., will apply to all the species here described.
*Bambusa edulis.—A hardy and vigorous kind, with very elegant light-green shoots and olive-green stems, attaining a height of 10 ft. in the neighbourhood of Paris. The leaves are small, and the plant is not nearly so branching as in some other kinds.
*Bambusa falcata (Arundinaria falcata).—A very ornamental species from Nepaul and the Himalayas, and at present the only kind of bamboo much planted with us. It grows from 7 ft. to 20 ft. high, and has woody, twisted, smooth stems of a yellowish-green or straw-colour, knotty, bearing on one side of each of the knots a bundle of small branches equally knotty and twisted. The whole plant has a pale yellowish hue, except in the young spikelets and sheaths, which are occasionally purplish. The leaves are of a fine delicate green, from 4 ins. to 6 ins. long, ribbon-like, linear-acute, sickle-shaped, in two rows, short-stalked, and sheathing. It is hardy over the greater part of England and Ireland, but only attains full development in the south and west. I have seen it attain great luxuriance in Devon, and nearly 20 ft. high near Cork, though in many districts it is stunted. It loves a deep, sandy, and rich soil, and plenty of moisture when growing fast.
*Bambusa Fortunei.—A pretty dwarf variegated species from Japan, of which I have not seen the green form in cultivation, with very dwarf, slender, branching, hollow, half-shrubby stems, seldom growing more than 18 ins. high, and with very short internodes. The leaves are 3½ ins. to 8 ins. long, linear-lance-shaped, abruptly pointed, somewhat rounded at the base, serrated and often fringed with long hairs on the margin, downy on both sides; they are distinctly variegated, the transverse veins being often of a bottle-green colour; stalks very short and hairy. This kind has proved hardy in our gardens, but it has not the charm of grace possessed by the other kinds, and is chiefly desirable in collections of variegated and edging plants.