VI 
CINNAMON 
215 
velopment of the bush. Manure of any kind put at 
the foot of a tree causes the development of roots in 
a mass close to the trunk instead of a large spread 
of feeding roots, and retards the growth of the stems. 
Manuring . — Some planters have said that cinnamon 
does not require manuring, except that of mulching 
with weeds, fallen leaves, etc. I can find very little 
experimenting with manures on cinnamon recorded 
anywhere, but the experienced cinnamon planter quoted 
before urges that though, as a matter of practice, 
planters are not in the habit of giving any other manure 
than a mulch of weed refuse, cinnamon grows stronger 
and quicker where there is plenty of organic matter for 
its roots to feed on. He quotes a Mr. Gabriel Cross, 
who affirms that he has doubled the produce by the 
application of coco-nut poonac. Cow-dung, if not too 
heavily supplied, is always a safe manure for a bush of 
this description, and indeed any vegetable refuse might 
be well used on the ground. 
Growth . — In favourable situations the shoots attain 
a height of 5 or 6 ft. in about six or seven years, and a 
healthy bush will then give two or three shoots fit for 
peeling. In good soil from four to seven shoots may 
be cut every second year from one tree, and shoots of 
four years’ growth are also often fit for cutting. 
From seedlings no crop is obtained earlier than 
the second or third year, when the solitary stem is cut 
down to within 4 or 6 in. from the ground, and covered 
with fresh earth. The second crop will be three or four 
times as large as the first, the number of shoots increasing 
each year, till in the seventh or eighth year the bushes 
have grown so big that there should be hardly room for 
the peelers to get between them.^ 
Flowering and Fruiting . — Adult trees flower in 
May, or earlier, the fruit ripening in July or August. 
The birds are very fond of the fruit, and often devour 
nearly the whole crop before it is ripe, so that it is 
frequently necessary, in the Malay Peninsula at least, to 
^ T. B. Danedwelle. 
