This manual, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Point Four program, presents critical features and principles of using bamboo as a building material. Information provided in the manual includes the following: parts of a house for which bamboos are suitable, bamboo reinforcement of concrete, geographical distribution of bamboos, differences among species, some bamboos used in housing, shortcomings of bamboo and how to overcome them, preservation, skill requirements, tool requirements, differentiation and evaluation of species of bamboo, and collecting specimens for identification. A list of the salient features of different types of bamboo species is included. The publication is illustrated with line drawings and photographs. A list of references completes the manual. (KC)