888 



SPICES AKB FRAGRANT WOODS, 



stony under the surface is bad, and not adapted for the cultivation of cinnamon, 

 as the trees would neither grow fast, nor yield a remunerative return. 



"When a tract of land of the above description is selected, the whole of the 

 ground should be cleared, leaving a few trees for shade, to which the laborers 

 might return for rest and relaxation ; these may be from 50 to 60 feet apart. 

 The trees felled should be well lopped, burnt and cleared away, the stumps 

 should be removed with roots, after which they may be allowed to remain, in 

 order to save expense of carriage, merely by observing some degree of order in 

 the disposition, by forming regular rows, of which the intervening spaces are 

 planted with cinnamon. The ground being thus cleared, holes may be dug at 

 eight to ten feet apart, and of one foot square ; the distance from each plant will 

 depend upon the natm-e of the soil — that is, the poorer the soil, the nearer to 

 each other should the trees be planted, and vice versa. 



When this operation is over, should the holes be intended for cinnamon roots, 

 or stumps, the latter must be carefully removed with as much earth as can be 

 carried up with them and placed in the holes, taking care not to return the 

 earth removed originally in digging the holes, which are to be filled with the 

 soil scraped from the surface, which has been previously burnt, exposed, and 

 formed into manure. Should no rain have fallen after the placing of the roots 

 in the holes, the stumps should be well covered, and watered morning and even- 

 ing, until such time as the sprouts shoot out fresh buds, which will be in a 

 fortnight or so from the time they were transplanted, when the watering may 

 be discontinued. In a month the new shoots wiU be three or four inches high ; 

 this much depends upon the weather. 



If the holes be intended for young plants or seedlings, the plants must be re- 

 moved with boles of earth from the nurseries, and placed in the holes, taking 

 the same care as with the stumps, both in watering and covering, in the event 

 of its being dry weather, "When the seedlings take root, the coverings should 

 not be removed until the plants throw out a new pair of leaves from the buds, 

 which is a sign of their having taken root. 



"When a plantation is formed of old stumps, all the branches should be cut 

 down within six inches from the ground ; this should be done with one stroke 

 of a sharp instrimient, in order to avoid the splitting of the stem. From these 

 stumps cinnamon may be cut and peeled within eighteen months from the time 

 of transplanting. Often this is done after the lapse of twelve months from the 

 time of transplanting. 



From seedlings one cannot expect to gather a crop before two or three years 

 from the time the plants were transplanted, when there will be but one or a 

 single tree, which, when cut down as already shown, four or six inches to the 

 ground, ought to be covered with fresh earth gathered from the space between 

 the rows, and formed in a heap round the plant. The next crop will be three 

 or four times as much as the first, from the number of sprouts the stem will 

 throw out, and so on every year, the crop increasing according to the number 

 of sprouts each stem will throw out yearly fi-om the cuttings. In the course of 

 seven or eight years, the space left between the rows will only admit the peelers 

 and others to go round the bushes, weed, clear and remove cuttings, as the 

 branches from each bush will almost touch each other at their ends. 



It is essentially necessary to take every care not to allow any creepers or 

 other weeds to grow, the former interfere with the growth of the bushes by en- 

 tangling, because it not only takes out so much of the support feeding the cinnamon 

 trees, but interferes with the peelers during the cutting season, and prevents 

 the branches growing up straight with a free circulation of air. The plantation 

 ought to be kept clean and free from weeds ; the cinnamon requires no manuring, 

 but when the plantation is weeding the bushes should be covered with the sur- 

 face soil and raising the ground round the bush by making a heap of the earth, 

 which answers well in lieu of manure. This operation must be attended to as 

 soon as the cinnamon sticks are removed for peeling. The plantation requires 

 weeding three or four times a year during the first two or three years, then 

 twice a year will answer the purpose ; as by that time the trees will form into 

 bushes and destroy the seeds of the weeds on the ground. 



The forming of a nursery is necessarv, for which a space of ground, say an acre, 

 shoTild be selected in a rich bit of soil free from stones. Clear the whi)le brush- 



