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oil, which shows that the method of valuation which has been advocated 

 by us for over 20 years has really brought about an improvement in the 

 conditions of quality, and that by degree users have acquired the con- 

 viction that the price of inferior qualities has always been too high as 

 compared with that of the better grades. 



The U. S. Consul at Swatow 1 ) has recently sent in a report on 

 a new cassia -growing enterprise in China. He states that last year 

 Huang Hsi-ch'uan, who is a Hakka and a member of the Chinese pro- 

 vincial assembly, has instituted a series of experiments in cassia-culture 

 at Kaying, in the course of which it was found that the soil and climate 

 there were very suitable for the growth of this plant. Huang Hsi-ch'uan 

 had previously carefully studied the corresponding conditions at Wuchow, 

 on the West River, where there are large cassia -forests, and accord- 

 ingly he formed a company known as the "First Kaying Company for 

 the cultivation of Cinnamon" and started a model plantation, not only, 

 it is said, with a view of making money from the undertaking, but es- 

 pecially in order to promote industrial enterprise and to counteract the 

 tide of emigration among the people of the region. Two species of 

 cassia are grown in the new plantations, one large and the other small. 

 The former flowers when 10 years old, but it is only cut down at the age 

 of 20 years for the purpose of harvesting the bark. Between the ages of 

 10 and 20 years only the seed, of which the value is small, is harvested. 

 The smaller variety yields leaves for the manufacture of oil at 3 to 4 years 

 of age, and its bark is only harvested at the age of 6 or 7 years. As soon 

 as the trees (and this applies to both varieties) are cut down, new shoots 

 immediately spring up around the stumps, so that such a plantation, once 

 started, lasts practically indefinitely. The wood is used for fuel, the wood- 

 ashes and the small twigs are employed for medicinal purposes, the bark 

 yields the "cinnamon" of commerce, and from the leaves oil is distilled. 

 According to the Chinese text, "a yellowish earth, light and dry", is the 

 most suitable soil; it requires no fertilisers. The trees are not much 

 affected by drought. The seed is sown in a kind of nursery, and the young 

 trees are transplanted when two years old. A picul of seed (133 V 3 lbs.) 

 costs $ 120 to $ 130 Mexican ($ 50.76 to $ 55 American currency) and 

 contains about 20 000 000 seeds, while 10 000 saplings cost $40 Mexican 

 (about $ 16.92 American currency). The Consul's report goes on to state 

 that the Chinese text, so far as it relates to the prospective returns, is 

 not quite clear, but it appears to make the' following estimate: "10000 trees 

 will yield annually as a by-product some 7 piculs (933 lbs.) of leaves, worth 

 60 cents Mexican ($ 0.25) per picul. This would seem to refer to dead 

 leaves, which can be plucked from time to time without retarding the 

 growth of the trees, for it is stated that 10 000 leaves (presumably young 



x ) Daily Consular and Trade Reports, July 3 rd , 1911. 



