August i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
people will not see the advantages to be gained. 
My hope, therefore, is in the large body of intel- 
ligent and influential cinnamon proprietors who 
must represent quite two-thirds of all cinnamon 
property ; these gained success may fairly be con- 
sidered certain. I will now throw out a few sug- 
gestions for consideration and discussion : — 
1. To call a meeting of all interested in the 
cultivation of cinnamon to discuss the question of 
entirely discontinuing the preparation and export- 
ation of chips. 
2. To appoint a Committee with powers to cor- 
respond with owners of cinnamon estates of 50 acres 
and upwards to try and persuade them to join in 
this movement. 
3. To consider the feasibility of forming a Syndi- 
cate of all who join in this movement lor tbe purpose 
of bringing up chips from the small gardens, to be 
converted into oil. 
Suggestions 1 and 2 seeing they bind no one 
to anything will no doubt be agreed to In 
the event of the Committee being successful in 
securing the assent of the majority of growers, 
which I sincerely hope they will be, what then ? 
Are we to be content with that ? Are we to have 
no reasonable guarantee that all will act in good 
faith? I certainly think it is absolutely necessary that 
we should, otherwise our proceedings will be a farce. 
I would therefore propose that an agreement should 
be drawn up and signed by each consenting party 
binding himself on honor not to prepare or export 
chips for a period to be determined upon. No 
honest man need take umbrage at being asked 
to subscribe to a document of this tenor. It would 
tend I submit to give confidence where confidence 
is essential, and very few I trust would bt> found 
so dead to truth and honor as to break such an 
agreement. Should we be so fortunate as to reach 
this stage, we would have great cause for con- 
gratulation, yet this would only be a small measure 
of relief and would not secure the full object we 
have in view : here then would come in my 3rd 
suggestion. The annual exports of chips is about 
500,000 lb. or quite one-fourth of the total yearly 
crop of cinnamon. We might, I think, fairly infer 
that one-half of this would be represented by 
estates that would agree not to prepare chips, leaving 
the other half or 250,000 lb. to be dealt with other- 
wise. I propose therefore that all who agree to re- 
frain from preparing chips do form themselves into a 
Syndicate for the purpose of buying up all the 
chips that are offered for sale in the local 
markets, paying a price equivalent to the highest 
that could be obtained in the London or 
continental markets so as to insure that none 
is exported. It is well-known that bark cinnamon 
oil is greatly adulterated by some manufacturers, 
if therefore pure oil only were made I feel 
convinced that all the chips now used for 
this purpose, as well as the 250,000 lb. mentioned 
above would all be absorbed, and that without 
any danger of overstocking the market. Particularly 
would this be the case if the manufacture 
of " cinnamon-leaf oil " were suppressed, for of 
this above from 80 thousand to 100 thousand 
ounces are exported annually. Proprietors sel- 
dom manufacture this oil themselves, and it has 
oftrn been a puzz'e to me to find a reason why 
they should allow others to prepare it. The amount 
paid by the owner of a still to the estate for the 
privilege of being permitted to use as much leaf as 
he likes is from B50 to 100 a year, and for this 
paltry sum he allows his land to be robbed of 
hundreds of tons of leaf that should be returned 
to the land to enrioh it, while he aids and abets 
in throwing on to the market thousands of ounces 
of oil which help to keep down the price of his 
AGRICULTURIST. 115 
quill bark: could a more suicidal policy be imagined 1 
This practice is to my mind the height of folly, and 
instead of encouraging it I would willingly pay 
several hundred rupees annually to keep off the 
" leaf oil " distillers from any property I had 
anything to do with. To sum up, the remedy for 
low prices is in the hands of growers them- 
selves. Ceylon has a monopoly of cinnamon ; 
and if its output is reduced there neied be no 
fear of any other country stepping into supply 
the deficiency. Let all proprietors firmly refuse 
to permit the manufacture of "leaf oil" on their 
estates and then there will be a demand for all 
the bark oil we possibly can prepare from chips. 
The Syndicate of growers will most likely make 
sufficient profit fioin thp manufacture of oil to 
cover all expenses connected with its working, but 
should a small loss accrue it would be insignificant 
when distributed over the acreage that would be 
represented ; while the gain in the value of quill 
bark by the total suppression of chips would 
be considerable. Proprietors of cinnamon pro- 
perty hold a unique position, and if only 
one-half of them will for their own interests 
be unanimous, they will be able completely to 
control the cinnamon market. The above few 
remarks are writtnn in the hope that they will 
be taken up and fully discussed by those in whose 
interest they have been formed. It is no exaggera- 
tion to say that the subject is one of vital im- 
portance to cinnamon proprietors (aye and superin- 
tendents too, as their interests are identical) and 
that they cannot afford any longer to let matters 
drift as they have hitherto done. — Yours truly, 
WILLIAM JAEDINE. 
FIG TEEE SEED. 
June 28th, 1889. 
Deae Sie, — As a duty to the public, I think the 
attention of the advertizers of this seed should 
be called upon for an explanation. What is meant 
by Fig Tree Seed ? If they mean the Ficus family, 
" Nat,. Ord. Urticacece," we have some 26 varieties 
indigenous to Ceylon and which can be propagated 
by cuttings with very little care. On the other 
hand, to treat with the cultivated forms grown 
all over the world, horticulturists would rather 
repudiate the idea of raising plants from seed, 
when our finett varieties taken from cuttings or 
layers can be sent by post anywhere. The finest 
variety of Fig grown in the island was brought 
from Italy some 25 years ago by an old estate 
proprietor. In Udapussellawa the true stock is still 
to be found. — Yours, 
ABBORATOB. 
[We take it for granted that the seed advertised 
is that of the cultivated fig, and the question is 
whether good varieties may not thus be obtained. 
It might be well if the origin of the seed were 
stated by the advertisers.— Ed.] 
FIG SEED. 
Deae Sie, — As you surmise, the seed we are ad- 
vertising is of the cultivated fig. We have ordered 
forward four varieties and on their arrival we shall 
give you further particulars,— Yours, 
W. H. DA VIES & Co. 
BONES : BUENT OE GEOUND ? 
29th June 1889. 
Sir,— I have a large quantity of bones, and wish 
to know what is the easiest method of reducing 
them to powder. Sulphuric acid is too expensive. 
What would be lost by burning them in a kiln, 
as we do lime, or in a pit as we do charcoal ? 
