THE CINNAMON PLANT 



Gardens. 



Khasia and 

 Jaintia Hills. 



Sylhet. 



CINNAMOMUM 



TAMALA 

 Cultivation 



or Tamalapatra, Linschoten, Voy. E. Ind. (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 131 ; Jonston, Hist. 

 Nat. de Arbor., 1662, 172); Vincent, Periplus, etc., 1800, app., 12-8; Wight, Mad. 

 Journ. Liter. Sc., 1839, xxii., reprinted in Edinb. New Phil. Journ., 1840, xxviii., 

 20-32; Fliickiger and Hanbury, Pharmacog., 475; Pharmacog. Ind., iii., 209.] 

 CULTIVATION. In The Agricultural Ledger (I.e. 3) particulars will be 

 found of the cultivation of tejpat in the Khasia and Jaintia hills. About 

 six square miles are said to be under the tree. It is usually found in 

 gardens or plantations of mixed jack and betel-nut palms. It grows 

 readily where there is heavy periodical rain followed by brilliant sun- 

 shine, but excessive and continued moisture injures the flavour of the 

 leaves. In the Khasia and Jaintia hills the trees are grown in regular 

 plantations seven feet apart ; the seedlings are raised in beds, and 

 planted out permanently when the plants are five years of age. The 

 tree takes five or six years to grow, comes into bearing at ten, and may 

 continue to give annual crops for one hundred years. The cultivation is in 

 the hands of the hill-men. In Sylhet the trees are self-sown ; the ripe 

 seeds fall from the trees into the soil and germinate. When the plants 

 are about a foot high they are transplanted. Great care is bestowed 

 upon them when they are young and tender. As constant exposure to 

 the sun would kill the shoots, they are planted behind bushes or trees 

 for protection. The undergrowth is kept down twice a year in the plan- 

 tations for the first eight or nine years ; after that the jungle is cleared 

 once a year in April. In some plantations the soil is dressed, but in most 

 it is never manured or irrigated. 



The tejpat and cinnamon trees are different. The former are only 

 used for their leaves, and no bark or only a small quantity is collected in 

 the Khasia hills. No information is, in fact, available regarding special 

 Cassia Lignea plantations, though a fairly large trade exists in the bark. 



Collection and Crop. " Tejpat is plucked in dry and mild weather, 

 from October to December, and in some places the collecting is continued 

 to the month of March. The leaves are taken once a year from young 

 trees, and every other year from old and weak ones. On an average 15 

 seers may be obtained from one tree, but the quantity depends upon cir- 

 cumstances ; a tree yields from 10 to 25 seers of leaves in a year. The 

 average yield of leaf per acre in the Jaintia parganas is about 30 seers 

 without, and 2 maunds with, twigs. The whole of the crop from 400 acres 

 was worth last year as much as Rs. 1,100. The quantity of leaves from 

 the Sylhet district last year calculated on the turnover of the traders was 

 estimated at 14,470 maunds, and from the Jaintia district 20,000 maunds." 

 " In harvesting the tejpat the small branches are cut down with the 

 leaves and dried in the sun for three or four days. The leafy branches 

 are then tied up into convenient bundles ready for the market. In the 

 other case, the leaves are separated from the branches and packed in 

 bamboo nets of a cylindrical shape called bora or jungra, which are four 

 feet long by two feet in diameter. The packages are carried down the 

 ghaut roads of the hills by coolies to Sylhet." Mukerji (Handbook Ind. 

 Agri., 1901, 437-8) says that for propagation seed had best be obtained 

 from Sylhet. 



Uses. The leaves are commonly known as tezpat or tejpat, but since 

 the Natives call the leaves of any species of Cinnamommn by that name 

 there is some uncertainty as to which particular species is meant in certain 

 localities. It appears probable that C. Tamala and its variety inter- 

 medium provide the tezpat of Bengal, the United Provinces and the Panjab, 



312 



Crop. 

 Seasons. 



Yield. 



Plucking. 



Food 



(Condiment). 



Regions of 

 Supply. 



