236 SPICES CHAP. 



kilogram, according to quality. The average price of 

 cultivated Annam cassia is only about 80 francs the 

 kilogram. 



M. Eberhardt found the tree growing pretty nearly 

 all over Indo-China, and a general consensus of opinion 

 that Annam cassia was the best. He is doubtful as to 

 whether the cultivation would ever pay the European, 

 as the age to which it requires to develop before ex- 

 ploiting is great. It could, however, be well utilised as 

 an accessory cultivation. 1 It is very probable from 

 these researches that the Chinese cassia, which is not 

 known in a truly wild state, is an introduction from 

 Annam, or other parts of Indo-China, by the Chinese, 

 and that it is a cultivated form of C. obtusifolium, a 

 plant of rather wide distribution. As mentioned in 

 dealing with cinnamon, these aromatic barks vary much 

 in value according to the strain or variety, and 

 according to climate and soil. It might be well worth 

 trying if the fine strain of Thank Hoa would not keep 

 true under cultivation, and if it could not be cultivated 

 in Indo-China by the same method as cinnamon is in 

 Ceylon. 



/ OTHER CASSIA BARKS 



There are several other species of Cinnamon which 

 grow wild in the Malay Peninsula and Islands, of which 

 the bark is collected by natives and sold in the local 

 markets, or used locally. None, however, so far as I 

 am aware, are at present cultivated, and indeed even 

 yet but little is known as to the origin of some of these 

 barks, or the habits of the tree. 



Cinnamomum iners, Keinw. Kayu Manis hutan 

 (Malay, lit. wild cinnamon) is a very common tree in 

 low swampy ground in the Malay Peninsula. It is 

 closely allied to, if not actually a form of, the true 

 cinnamon, but is much less aromatic. The bark is used 

 in curries, but is not much sought after. 



Cinnamomum Kulit Lawan, Bl. The clove bark, 



1 Journal d 'agriculture tropicale, May 1910, p. 158. 



