unequalled for beauty and neatness of workmanship. In China the interior
portions of the stem are beaten into a pulp and used for the manufacture of
the finer varieties of paper. Bamboos are imported to a considerable extent
into Europe for the use of basket-makers, and for umbrella and
walking-sticks. In short, the purposes to which the bamboo is applicable
are almost endless, and well justify the opinion that "it is one of the
most wonderful and most beautiful productions of the tropics, and one of
Nature's most valuable gifts to uncivilized man" (A. R. Wallace, _The Malay
Archipelago_).

A number of species of bamboo are hardy under cultivation in the British
Isles. A useful and interesting account of these and their cultivation will
be found in the _Bamboo Garden_, by A. B. Freeman-Mitford. They are mostly
natives of China and Japan and belong to the genera _Arundinaria_,
_Bambusa_ and _Phyllostachys_; but include a few Himalayan species of
_Arundinaria_. They may be propagated by seed (though owing to the rare
occurrence of fruit, this method is seldom applicable), by division and by
cuttings. They are described as hungry plants which well repay generous
treatment, and will flourish in a rich, not too stiff loam, and for the
first year or two should be well mulched. They should be sheltered from
winds and well watered during the growing period. When being transplanted
the roots must be disturbed as little as possible. The following may be
mentioned; _Arundinaria simoni_, a fine plant which in the bamboo garden at
Kew has reached 18 ft. in height, and not infrequently flowers and fruits
in Britain; _A. japonica_, a tall and handsome plant generally grown in
gardens under the name _Bambusa metake_; _A. nitida_, "by far the daintiest
and most attractive of all its genus, and remarkably hardy"; _Bambusa
palmata_, with leaves a foot or more long and three inches broad; _B.
tesselata_; _B. quadrangularis_, remarkable for its square stems;
_Phyllostachys mitis_, growing to 60 ft. high in its native home, China and
Japan; and _P. nigra_, so called from the black stem, a handsome species.

BAMBURGH, or BAMBOROUGH, a village in the Berwick-upon-Tweed parliamentary
division of Northumberland, England, on the sea-coast, 2-1/2 m. E. of
Belford station on the North Eastern railway, and 54 m. N. of Newcastle. It
was a royal borough previous to the Norman Conquest and returned two
members to parliament in the reign of Edward I. I