230 SPICES 



CHAP. 



English acres) under cultivation, and that the area was 

 increasing every year. The cultivation had been carried 

 on for twenty-five years. In Toshing the low prices 

 obtained had caused a decrease in production, but this 

 was the only place found by Mr. Ford where there was 

 any decrease, though it was said that the low price of 

 the Javanese bark was cutting out the Chinese trade. 



It appears that the plant Cinnamomum cassia, 

 though cultivated from time immemorial, does not 

 appear to be indigenous in China. In Cochin-China, how- 

 ever, it appears to be wild, and was perhaps introduced 

 thence into China. The tree is botanically very closely 

 allied to Cinnamomum obtusifolium, Nees, of Khasiya 

 and Cochin-China. 



Mr. Ford's account of the cultivation is as follows : 



When the trees are about six years old the first cut of bark 

 is obtained. The season for barking commences in March and 

 continues till the end of May, after which the natives say the 

 bark loses' its aroma. The branches, which are about 1 in. 

 thick, being cut to within a few inches of the ground, are 

 carried to houses and sheds in the vicinity of the plantations, 

 all the small twigs and leaves being cleared off. A large-bladed 

 knife, with the cutting edge something like the end of a budding- 

 knife, is used to make two longitudinal slits and three or four 

 incisions at 16 in. apart round the circumference through the 

 bark. The bark is then loosened by passing underneath it a 

 slightly curved horn-knife, with the two edges slightly sharpened. 

 Pieces of bark, 16 in. long and half the circumference are thus 

 obtained. 



The bark, after its removal and while it is still moist with 

 sap, is then laid with the concave side downwards and a small 

 plane passed over it and the epidermis removed. After this 

 operation the bark is left to dry for about twenty-four hours, 

 and then tied up in bundles about 18 in. in diameter, and sent 

 into the merchants' houses in the market towns. 



The leaves which are cleared from the branches that are 

 barked are carefully preserved and dried, and are used for dis- 

 tilling cassia oil. A large quantity of leaves are sent to Canton, 

 where I was told that the operation of distilling is employed. 



The twigs are removed from the cut branches at the same 

 time as the leaves, and are sold for native uses. Cassia-buds 

 are the immature fruits. They are gathered when about one- 



