210 SPICES 



CHAP. 



is suitable ; such land in a flat country is preferable 

 to hilly spots. The soil that is rocky or stony under 

 the surface is bad, as the trees would neither grow fast 

 nor yield a remunerative return. E. Boddam, in the 

 Mysore Gazette, condemns any but siliceous soils. He 

 says that besides inferiority in smell, taste, and colour 

 which invariably mark plants grown in any other soil, 

 another disadvantage is this, that while the stumps of 

 plants grown in siliceous soils shoot forth rapidly, and 

 are fit to be peeled a second time within a period of 

 four or five years, producing bark superior in quality to 

 that peeled at first, those grown on a hilly or marshy soil 

 require a time of not less than six years before they can 

 undergo a second peeling and yield bark less in quantity 

 and inferior in quality to that peeled off at first. 



All seem to agree that the best cinnamon is that 

 grown on sandy, loose soil, at a low elevation. There 

 is no doubt that the plant itself will grow luxuriantly 

 in damper, more argillaceous soils, and in such soils it 

 has established itself as a wild plant about Singapore 

 and elsewhere. But the ease and luxuriance with 

 which the plant grows does not at all prove that it will 

 be successful as a giver of good bark. In damp shady 

 spots the tree seems to be much less aromatic, and 

 probably contains much less oil, passing towards the 

 wild Cinnamomum iners, which is hardly at all aromatic 

 and is so common in damp low-lying spots in the Malay 

 Peninsula. The planter should be sure that his soil is 

 suitable for the plant, and that the product obtained 

 would be up to the standard of first-class quality, 

 before embarking extensively in the cultivation. 



As far as climate is concerned, the rainfall should be 

 adequate, 85 to 100 in. a year, and the temperature 

 averaging 85 or little higher or lower. Prolonged, dry, 

 rainless spells do not suit this plant at all. 



Raising from Seed. The cinnamon tree is usually 

 grown from seed. The seeds are gathered when ripe, 

 and heaped up in a shady place, till the outside pulp 

 rots and turns quite black, when the seeds can be freed 



