Generally, bamboo will not root from cuttings. It is best propogated by division. Try to get as much rhizome mass as possible, and at least one (preferably more) attached culms. If it's spreading, you can often just pull a culm at the edge of the grove out of the ground and pull quite a length of attached rhizome. It's harder if you dig in the middle of the grove because the rhizomes are close to impenetrably dense there.

As far as books go, Bamboo for Gardens by Ted Merideth is good.

Ognyen-
Only tropical bamboo that will not grow in your area can be propagated from culm cuttings. You want to dig nice divisions. I'll send you step-by-step instructions via email.
In addition to Meredith's book, take a look at: Hardy Bamboos (Whittaker), and The Gardener's Guide to Temperate Bamboos (Bell).

Hello! I've got some moso seedling and I'm really interested in propagation by division too... Can you send instructions to me also?
Thanks!

Seems to be possible...

Look at: http://www.bambootech.org/readhl.asp?hlid=2

I'm in the middle of my first try. Peaces stay green so far... Waiting for the first culm to appear.....

Regards,
Mike

albem,

That procedure pretty much only works with clumping bamboos and not runners. What species are you trying?

As for propagating by division, this is simply dividing the plant into multiple plants, assuming you have more than one culm.

If you boo is in a pot this is really easy. Remove the plant from the pot and carefully divide the plant into multiple plants by separating culms (including root mass) from the rest of the plant.

If the boo is in the ground and is a relatively young grove, you should be able to use a shovel to dig out a division. This is accomplished by digging around the culm (6 to 12 inches if possible), ensuring you get sufficient root mass for plant survival. Older groves tned to have a very massive rhizome network and you may even need pybars, chainsaws, axes and more to dig a division.

One thing to remember...boo roots dry out quickly when exposed to air, so it is wise to wrap in wet towels and wrap in plastic. I usually water the boo before digging to help in this process.

Again, propagation using culm cuttings and branch cuttings is only possible with tropical clumpers, not the runners.

Some links you may find helpful:

http://www.inbar.int/publication/txt/tr05/a5-2.htm
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/horticulture/GrowingBamboo.htm
http://www.americanbamboo.org/FAQ.html
http://www.ctl.com.au/abn/clumps.htm
http://www.inbar.int/totem/totemdetail.asp?id='115'
http://www.boonut.com/bamboohowto.html
http://bambooweb.info/Links.php
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/landscape/bamboo.html