VI 



CINNAMON 215 



velopment of the bush. Manure of any kind put at 

 the foot of a tree causes the development of roots in 

 a mass close to the trunk instead of a large spread 

 of feeding roots, and retards the growth of the stems. 



Manuring. Some planters have said that cinnamon 

 does not require manuring, except that of mulching 

 with weeds, fallen leaves, etc. I can find very little 

 experimenting with manures on cinnamon recorded 

 anywhere, but the experienced cinnamon planter quoted 

 before urges that though, as a matter of practice, 

 planters are not in the habit of giving any other manure 

 than a mulch of weed refuse, cinnamon grows stronger 

 and quicker where there is plenty of organic matter for 

 its roots to feed on. He quotes a Mr. Gabriel Cross, 

 who affirms that he has doubled the produce by the 

 application of coco-nut poonac. Cow-dung, if not too 

 heavily supplied, is always a safe manure for a bush of 

 this description, and indeed any vegetable refuse might 

 be well used on the ground. 



Growth. In favourable situations the shoots attain 

 a height of 5 or 6 ft. in about six or seven years, and a 

 healthy bush will then give two or three shoots fit for 

 peeling. In good soil from four to seven shoots may 



O O J 



be cut every second year from one tree, and shoots of 

 four years' growth are also often fit for cutting. 



From seedlings no .crop is obtained earlier than 

 the second or third year, when the solitary stem is cut 

 down to within 4 or 6 in. from the ground, and covered 

 with fresh earth. The second crop will be three or four 

 times as large as the first, the number of shoots increasing 

 each year, till in the seventh or eighth year the bushes 

 have grown so big that there should be hardly room for 

 the peelers to get between them. 1 



Flowering and Fruiting. Adult trees flower in 

 May, or earlier, the fruit ripening in July or August. 

 The birds are very fond of the fruit, and often devour 

 nearly the whole crop before it is ripe, so that it is 

 frequently necessary, in the Malay Peninsula at least, to 



1 T. B. Dnnedwelle. 



