BAMBOO, CONSIDERED AS A PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL. WITH REMARKS UPON ITS CULTIVATION AND TREATMENT. SUPPLEMENTED BY A CONSIDERATION OF THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE PAPER TRADE IN RELATION TO THE SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIAL. BY THOMAS ROUTLEDGE. [Illustration: logo] LONDON: E. & F. N. SPON, 48, CHARING CROSS, NEW YORK: 446, BROOME STREET. 1875. This Pamphlet is printed on Paper made by the Author from Bamboo. BAMBOO, CONSIDERED AS A MATERIAL FOR PAPER REMARKS UPON ITS CULTIVATION AND TREATMENT. Of all the fibre-yielding plants known to botanical science there is not one so well calculated to meet the pressing requirements of the Paper-trade as "BAMBOO," both as regards facility and economy of production, as well as the quality of the "_Paper-Stock_" which can be manufactured therefrom: grown under favourable conditions of climate and soil, there is no plant which will give so heavy a crop of available fibre to the acre, no plant which requires so little care for its cultivation and continuous production. The rapidity of the growth of "BAMBOO" is unequalled. At Gehzireh, the gardens of the Khedive of Egypt at Cairo, it has been known to grow nine inches in a single night. At Syon House, the Duke of Northumberland's, stems of "_Bambusa Gigantea_" have attained the height of 60 feet in 12 weeks; and I have made "_Paper-Stock_" from a stem of "_Bambusa Vulgaris_," sent me by Dr. Hooker, from the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, which, as measured by the gardener in the Palm-house, grew at the rate of three feet in a single week; at Chatsworth, the Duke of Devonshire's, this same variety (the "_Bambusa Vulgaris_") has attained the height of 40 feet in 40 days. Throughout the East Indies the "Bamboo" flourishes, forming indeed in many districts impenetrable jungles. It grows abundantly also in the West Indies, in Central and South America, the Brazils, in Africa and Asia; in China especially, and in Japan, the plant is indigenous, and the natives cultivate it carefully, employing it for almost every article of convenience and luxury; in fact, wherever heat and moisture exist, some species of the "Bamboo" will be found, or may be readily cultivated. Attempts have from time to time been made in England, and elsewhere, to obtain from the "BAMBOO" "_Half-stuff_" or "_Pulp_" suitable for the manufacture of paper, and paper indeed has been made therefrom, but hitherto these attempts have neither industrially nor commercially attained successful results, and for the following reasons. Hitherto the "BAMBOO" has been collected and treated in a condition more or less of maturity, or without regard to its age; and when the plant has attained its full growth the woody fibre is extremely dense and indurated; when old, indeed, the exterior portion of the stem of many varieties of the plant becomes so hard and silicious that it will, like flint, strike fire with steel.