CINNAMON 213 



and watered. They should be planted from 8 to 12 in. 

 apart, and require some amount of shade. The poorer 

 the soil the closer they should be planted. 



Planting Out. The plants are taken out of the 

 beds with a ball of clay round the roots, for planting, 

 but before this is done the ground must be clean of 

 weeds, hoed and holed. Lining is important, as it 

 saves time eventually both in getting about among the 

 trees, and also in weeding, and it is also easier to block 

 out portions of the estate so as to give the coolies task- 

 work in cutting. The ground is then marked out with 

 pegs 6 ft. apart. In native cultivation the plants are 

 often put so close together that the whole is nearly 

 a dense mass of cinnamon bushes, but it is better 

 to allow sufficient space to move easily about between 

 the bushes. The small plants are often planted singly, 

 in holes 1 ft. wide and as deep, in which leaf-mould, 

 dead leaves, etc., are mixed with the soil dug out. The 

 plant is put in the centre and the soil firmly pressed 

 down. Cultivation from seed in this manner and 

 planting singly is slow, the first crop taking from two 

 to three years before it can be harvested. Most planters, 

 therefore, urge planting several seedlings together in 

 one hole. A Ceylon planter, in the Ceylon Observer 

 (April 1, 1881), condemns single planting very strongly. 

 " The plant," he says, " would be fit for cutting in three 

 years. Each stock would then have put out a couple 

 or so of suckers, which in their turn would be fit for 

 cutting in a couple of years. The clumps or bushes 

 would thus be gradually pruned and would take ten or 

 twelve years before the cinnamon would pay for the 

 cost of weeding." 



An experienced planter, in the book All about Spices, 

 however, demurs to planting a number of plants together 

 on the ground that there are several useless varieties 

 which, getting into the estate, could not be removed if 

 intermixed with the good plants. There are two varie- 

 ties especially common, called respectively the Korahedi 

 and the Velli. They occur on all estates and on some 



