-NATURAL 
4n equal, if not fuperior quality to 
any imported from India. ¥ 
_ The various and important ufes 
to which the feveral parts of the 
plant are applied, make it an inva- 
junble acquifition to the Weft India 
colonies; and there can be no im- 
pediment, except an impolitic pro- 
hibition, to its becoming an article 
of general cultivation, and of. the 
moft lucrative commerce. 
None of the botanical writers 
whom I have had an opportunity 
of confulting, fay much of the cul- 
tivation or propagation of the cin- 
'mamon; and we have hardly had 
time to make fufficient obfervations 
on the fubject of either; but, for 
the information of the public, to 
whom it is a matter of fome import- 
ance, I fhall venture the fewsre- 
marks which my own fhort expe- 
rience enables me to offer. 
The cinnamon plant, though (ac- 
cording to the account of travel- 
lers} it grows to the height of 
twenty or thirty feet, is, properly 
_ fpeaking, an arborefcent one, and 
_ not a tree -of the common kind: it 
‘puts out numerous fide-branches, 
with a denfe foliage from the very 
bottom of the trunk; which fur- 
hifhes an opportunity of obtaining 
‘a plenty of Jayers, and facilitates 
‘the propagation of the tree, as it 
does not perfect its feeds in any 
- quantity under fix or feven years; 
_ when it becomes fo plentifully load- 
yed, that a fingle tree is fufficient al- 
~ moft for a colony. 
_ The cinnamon feems to delight 
in a loofe, moitt foil, and to require 
_ a fouthern afpect; the trees, thus 
‘planted, flourifhing better than 
HISTORY. 
77 
others growing in loam, and not io 
well expofed to the fun. r 
When healthy, it ts (from lay- 
ers), of a pretty quick growth, 
reaching in eight years the heighth 
of fifteen or twenty feet, is very 
fpreading, and furmifhed with nu- 
merous branches, of a fit fize for 
decortication. The feeds, however, 
are a long time in coming up, and 
the plants make {mall progrefs for 
the firft year or two *. 
The beft cinnamon bark, accord- 
ing to the different trials I have 
made, is taken from the fmall 
branches, of about an inch diame= 
ter, the larger limbs not being fo 
eafily decorticated, and not yielding, 
fo good, or fo ftrone a cinnamon. 
The {maller twigs, or thofe that 
have not acquired a cineritious 
bark, are tceo full of fap and muci- 
lage, and have little aroma. 
It is the /éer, or inner bark, that 
conftitutes the cinnamon, from which 
the two external barks muft be care- 
fully and entirely feparated, or they 
Vitiate the flavour of the cinnamon. 
To do this with dexterity, and to 
raife the bark from the wood, re 
quires fome prattice ; but there may 
perhaps “be an eafier method than 
tliat which I have made ufe of; 
which was that of a common prun- 
ing-knife. ‘The bark being thus 
feparated, the fmaller pieces are to 
be placed within the larger; which, 
by expofure to the fun or the air, 
prefently coil up, and’ require no 
further preparation. 
A dry feafon, I apprehend, is the 
proper one for taking the bark +; 
as | have found the cinnamon not 
fo ftrong after long or heavy rains. 
__ * The birds appear to be very fond of the berries, and will, probably, props- 
Fate this tree in the fame way they do many others every where over the ifland; {0 
that in a fhort time it will grow pontaneoufly, or without cultivation. 
_ F Th. n.onth of May is the time for taking it in Ceylon. 
Cinnamon 
