Photograph by E. H. Wilson, Arnold Arboretum 

 PACKING BARK IN CHINA 



At one time Ceylon excelled in the cinnamon industry, but coffee largely has replaced it, 

 thus restricting to the neighborhood of Colombo the principal cinnamon gardens ; however, 

 South China has become equally interested in the cultivation, and as a result produces much 

 valuable bark. The cultivation of cinnamon begins with the planting of seeds in prepared 

 soil, four or five in each hill. In five or .six years the trees are ready to produce bark. The 

 barking season begins in March and ends in June. The bark is removed and allowed to fer- 

 ment and then scraped. When dried, it is exported loose or in bundles, with split bamboo 

 bands from Canton, Hongkong, Calcutta, and Colombo. 



A cheaper substitute has been evolved 

 as a result. These indirect effects might 

 be multiplied almost infinitely ; they touch 

 almost every phase of the development 

 of the war. 



The effect of closing many markets for 

 products of neutral countries must also 

 be considered. A good example in the 

 trade is copra, or dried cocoanut kernel, 

 from which cocoanut oil is pressed. 

 Madras, India, a shipping center for this 

 article, reports a decline of 51 per cent in 

 the quantity exported in 19 16. Germany 

 and Russia were extensive users of 

 copra ; also Belgium. A decline of 27 

 per cent in the exports of oil of sesame 

 and essential oils in 1916 was also noted 

 in Madras. The use of palm oil in Eng- 

 land in the making of artificial butter has 

 resulted in greatly increased production 

 and a market which will probably be per- 



manent — showing that "it's an ill wind,, 

 etc." 



"THE HIGH COST OF TWILIGHT SLUMBER^ 



Some of the most remarkable advances 

 in price are seen in vegetable drugs. 

 Russian henbane is a source of hyoscine,. 

 or scopolamine, an ingredient in the 

 much-exploited 'Twilight sleep" prepara- 

 tion, and this drug jumped from 8 cents 

 a pound in 1914 to $3 a pound in 1916. 



Belladonna, from which atropine is 

 made — atropine the handmaiden of the 

 eye specialist — was cultivated for com- 

 mercial purposes in Germany and Eng- 

 land. The cutting away of the German 

 supply caused the price to rise from 50 

 cents to $1.75 a pound within the first 

 year of the war. Now England is mak- 

 ing efforts in intensive cultivation of 

 belladonna and other botanical drugs, and 



233 



