CINNAMOMUM 



ZEYLANICUM 



Cinnamon 



Arab Influence. 



THE CINNAMON PLANT 



Ceylon. 



Oppressive 

 Legislation. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



Soils. 



Propagation. 



Weeding. 

 Seasons. 



Separation of 

 Bark. 



the Indian as a cheaper quality than their own. The Arabs, through whose hands 

 much of the cinnamon passed, called it kirfat-ed-ddrsini, a word corrupted into 

 kirfah and which survives as kalfah, the name given to-day for the commercial 

 bark of Malabar. Garcia observes that the Chinese, in order to enhance the value 

 of the bark sold by them, gave it mythical names and stories. Strabo speaks of 

 cinnamon growing in South India at the beginning of the torrid zone. The name 

 cinnamon is thus considerably older than the time of the Chinese trade with 

 India and was, in fact, intimately associated with the very earliest Arab dealings. 



The systematic cultivation in Ceylon does not appear to have been under- 

 taken much before the Portuguese and Dutch conquests of the island (De Candolle). 

 It became a State monopoly, and, as Garcia de Orta tells us, rose in price 

 very greatly in consequence. The most stringent and cruel laws were instituted 

 to protect the monopoly, which, on the island passing over to the British in 

 1796, were mitigated and finally in 1833 the cultivation was made free and thus 

 ceased to be a State monopoly. 



[Numerous Indian writers might be mentioned on the subject of the production 

 and manufacture of Cassia and Cinnamon, such as : Acosta, Tract, de las Drogas, 

 1578, 2-18 ; Linschoten, Voy. E. 2nd., 1598 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 76; Pyrard, Voy. 

 E. Ind., 1601 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 358 ; Joret, Lea PI. dans UAntiq., 1904, ii., 

 262; Clusius, Hist. Arom., in Hist. Exot. PL, 1605, i., 169; Piso, Mant. Arom., in 

 Ind. Utri.reNat. et Med., 1658, 165; Jonston, Hist. Nat. de Arbor., 1662, 162-70, 

 pi. 53-4; Herbert, Travels, 1677, 342; etc., etc.] 



CULTIVATION AND PREPARA TION. The following account of 

 the propagation, cultivation, and method of preparing the bark is mainly 

 an epitomised and annotated version of Nicholls' article (Textbook Trop. 

 Agri., 190-3), and is therefore not a statement of any South Indian in- 

 dustry, for in fact none is known to exist. 



Although in its wild condition it grows to a large tree, the plant exists 

 under cultivation as a coppiced bush. It is cut down to the ground at 

 about the sixth year, when straight shoots spring up to be again cut 

 down two years after, and in time the stools become of great size. The 

 straight shoots are mentioned by all the early writers and are figured by 

 Jonston (I.e. t. liii.). 



The best soil, says Nicholls, is a sandy loam mixed with humus, but 

 the tree will grow in the tropics on almost any soil, though unsuitable 

 soils and climates produce inferior bark. Plants may be raised by cut- 

 tings, layerings, or by ripe and fresh seed. The usual way is to plant 

 the seed out in the fields, at distances of 6 or 7 feet apart ; the ground 

 being well broken up, and wood-ashes mixed with the soil. Four or five 

 berries are sown in each hole and branches of trees are laid on the ground 

 to protect the seedlings from the sun. But if dry weather follows germina- 

 tion, which takes place in from two to three weeks, many of the seedlings 

 may perish, and it will in consequence be advisable to have a reserve 

 of plants raised in nursery-beds to fill up vacancies. After the plants 

 are established, little more cultivation is needed than to keep the ground 

 free of weeds. By the sixth year the first shoots can be cut, when two 

 or three will usually be 5 or 6 feet high, and in a condition for peeling. Two 

 years afterwards the shoots that grow up after the first cutting may 

 be reaped. 



Preparation. The shoots are cut off and the tops removed so that 

 they are left from 3 to 5 feet long. The leaves and side branches are 

 cleared and two longitudinal slits made with a sharp knife, one on 

 each side of the shoots. When the cutting has taken place in rainy 

 weather the bark comes away easily, but as a rule it is necessary to rub 

 the sticks firmly with a piece of smooth wood, such as the handle of the 

 knife ; the rubbing helps to disengage the bark. The pieces of bark 

 thus separated, after^an hour orjso, are put one within the other, collected 



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