November i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
34i 
charactaristic of the Thaf-Tseddia relatively to the other. 
T' esj so ds am ist equal barley iu their growth and 
the rapidity with which they come up. Sown at the 
end of March or in April and May, they arrive at 
maturity at the beginning of September. Sown in 
June or July the crop may be reaped in October. 
They are cultivated iu the warm districts of the 
" IConalla " or lowlands, at an altitude of from 1,300 
(4(264 ft.) t) 1,800 (5,904 ft.) metres, and especially in 
the tomporato regions of the " Onayne Dega," at an 
altitude of from about 1,800 to 2/100 m. (5,901 ft. to 
7,872 ft.). 
The That' comes up very vigorously in heavy lands, 
but its largo and high tuft is richer in herbage than 
in grain. The exuberance of its vegetation in these 
heavy lands causes it to be laid, and then its oar rots. 
It prefers light soils and adapts itself even to the most 
sandy ; it then produces slender, wiry stems, and sup- 
ports better the weight of the ear. 
The land roquires to be prepared and cleaned by three 
or four ploughings before sowing; but it is true that 
the ploughings in Abyssinia are light and not very 
deep. It is sown thickly on the surface of prepared 
ground. It is afterwards lightly hoed, if necessary, 
when it has come up. 
It is not necessary to wait until it is quite dry like 
barley, to cut it, for when too ripe and dried, the 
grain sheds iu the wind and at the least shock. It is 
cut as soon as the green ear turns to grey, iu the early 
morning, and is placed in heaps with the oars inwards, 
and covered to preserve it from rain; it is then left to 
ripen anil to undergo a certain amount of fermentation. 
Its (lour is only advantageously used in making 
"Tabita," a bind of large formeuted pancake. The 
"Tabita" of Thaf is most easily digestible, and has 
none of the bitterness of some oth?r kinds of grain. 
(Signed) !£. Ooulueaux, 
Missionaire Apostolique en Abyssinie. 
Analysis hi/ Professor A. H. Ohv/rHh, M. A., F. C. S. 
In 100 parts. 
Water ... ... 15.2 
Albuminoids ... 8.2 
Staich, &c. ... ... 68.1 
Oil ... ... 2.8 
Cellulose, kc. ... ... 2.8 
Ash ... ... 2.9 
The ratio between the albuminoids, or tlesh formers 
and the heat givers, or force producers (calculated as 
starch), is here 1.9- This ratio is less satisfactory 
than that of the majority ot the millets, but is near 
that <>l J'anicum miliare. 
♦ 
CINNAMON PLANTING REPORT FROM 
SIYANE KORALE. 
11KTTKR PROSPECTS FOR TTTE BARK — A RKTROSPECT : HIGH 
TRICKS IN THH SKVKNTIKS AND STIMULI'S TO CULTIV- 
ATION— "SPUMOUS n.UiK AND CHIPS — LOW PBICKS AND 
QUAKTKRLV SALKS— THE AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION 
CAI.I.KD TO nOOK, ItC. 
There is a (lash of brightness just now in the pro- 
hpecis of another . sorely tried industry. Cinnamon 
Ml laboured for long in the throes of steadily de- 
creasing prices. As tho cause of this is evident and 
acknowledge on all sides, one would have thought 
that a Combination between the handful of principal 
(jrowers to apply the remedy for it was easily attain- 
able; but it is not so. Cinnamon not being an 
article of diot or of daily consumption it was very 
ensy for the supply to exceed the demand. A stimulus 
to extended cultivation was given iu the high prices 
ruling for the spice in the Seventies. Anything and 
e verything that could pass off for cinnamon was 
hhipped. OuilN wen- manufactured with cinnamon 
hnrk only for the outer covering. Spurious bark did 
duty for th" stuffing. It was about this time that 
Mr .1. D. Stevenson of tho Mnttnkkuhya Mill.", then 
a efanftmon planter in the Kkela district, started a 
new Industry by the scraping ami export of chips. 
"Chips," bo it DOted, is tho bark of tho coarsest 
mill most Inferior ri'inanion, nml that cannot be quilled, 
hat wits the r et downward step ; a tebto for it, 
and a demand too, were soon developed ; for flavour- 
ing purposes it answered as well as the best quality 
of cinnamon. What it lacked iu delicate flavour it 
gained in pungency. When a suitable quality of 
cinnamon, though not of a very presentable appear- 
ance, could be had for a few pence, it was absurd 
to imagine that buyers would eagerly turn their 
attention to cinnamon priced at so many shillings 
per lb., simply for the sake of a decent and mora 
presentable appearance. A taste for coarse and inferior 
bark has been created, and we are paying the penalty 
for it in prices that leave but a narrow margin of 
profit. When once it was pointed out to us that 
supply was in excess of demand the remedy was 
easy, the more so as, unlike with other products, the 
island did not compete with tho world, the produc- 
tion of cinnamon is confined to the island and is in 
the hands of a comparative few. Shortly after the 
Agricultural Association was started, a resolution was 
brought forward, binding its members not to scrape 
or export chips. After full discussion it was passed. 
Yet so lightly do its members regard their oblig- 
ations that they continued the pernicious and suicidal 
policy as if no such resolution was passed and as if 
they were not iu honour bound to carry out its 
intentions. This persistence in exporting chips is the 
more be wondered at, as the members of the Associ- 
ation who are interested in tho spico are men of 
intelligence and withal very shrewd in money matters. 
A little thought ought to satisfy them that by giving 
up what yields them but a minimum of profit, is 
manufactured in small quantities, and is bid for by 
the farthing, will benefit, by lessening the supply, 
what yields a higher profit, is calculated by the bale 
of 100 lb. each, and is generally bid for by tho 
pence. The Association finding it was foiled in its 
object of reducing supply and raising prices, by the 
unreasonableness of those most interested, tried the 
expedient of substituting monthly for quarterly sales. 
This change was very reasonable considering that 
cinnamon was the only product that was sold privately, 
other products, including all manner of spice, being 
brought before the public weekly. As was to be ex- 
pected this met with bitter opposition from those 
most interested in preserving the time-honoured 
practice — the middlemen or large purchasers who 
were the principal buyers. By monthly sales they 
would lose their occupation of vending the spice at 
their own figures in the long intervals between tho 
s»les. The opposition iu the Lane met with a response 
here in the timid who were prepared to sacrifice 
everything to prevent the price of ciunamon going 
down. The old conservative members too opposed 
the innovation as an innovation. In the meantime 
cinnamon, like all the other products, was receding 
iu price. The English brokers, who seem all along to 
havo been playing into the hands of the buyers, and 
gave no support whatever to the producers, kept 
constantly dinning into the ears of the grower that 
the fall iu price was mainly owing to the monthly 
sales, and that no improvement in the market could 
be expected as long as these were persisted iu. 
What seemed strange to us here was that the buyers 
persisted in their opposition to the change although 
it enabled them to buy the spice cheaper than before. 
A kind of desultory warfare was kept up between 
grower and buyer, the former insisting and the latter 
objecting to nioutldy sales. The brokers sided with 
tho latter. A climax was reached when the buyers 
iu a body refused to bid at a sale unless the brokers 
gave them a guarantee that the next salo would 
take place a quarter hence. No business was effected 
und tho brokers referred matters to the growers. 
The coutest had now become unequal. Tho brokers 
openly sympathized with the buyers and many in 
tho island secretly. The growers gave iu, and quarterly 
sales were again resorted to. Of course, the market 
wan not affected in the slightest by it. The brokers 
must need give sonic reason for it. Ono was ready 
at hand. The monthly sales bad so disorganized the 
market, that the Continental firms who were the 
principal buyers had their orders attended to locally. 
Wo lure kuow that Continental orJcrs wcro executed 
