VII 
CASSIA BARK 
231 
eighth grown. “ Buds ” and the seeds required for sowing are 
obtained from trees ten years old and upward, that are left 
standing about 50 or 100 ft. apart amqngst the trees which 
are cut down every six years for their bark. These seed- 
bearing trees are not cut unless there is some demand for the 
very thick bark on their trunks, when some of the trees which 
can be conveniently spared are sacrificed. 
The cultivation, we gather from this account, much 
resembles that of the cinnamon already described as 
practised in Ceylon. ^ 
The trees are cultivated in China on hill-sides, terraced 
for the purpose from altitudes of 300 to 1,000 ft. above 
sea-level ; apparently it is not cultivated on the plains, 
because what level ground there is, is required for 
rice and vegetables. The soil selected is that bearing 
the thickest growth of trees and ferns. 
I cannot find that any Chinese cassia has been 
cultivated elsewhere except in China and Indo-China. 
Mr. Ford distributed seeds of the plant he found in 
China, and most tropical gardens received some. A 
row of trees planted in the Singapore Botanic Gardens 
about 1884 have now developed to a large size. They 
were planted about 12 ft. apart, and are about 50 ft. 
tall and 2 to 5 ft. in girth. They fiower and fruit 
every year, but the seeds are constantly carried ofif by 
birds unless protected by muslin bags when ripening. 
Some of them are growing in stiff, yellow, clay soil, 
others in a lower, more swampy soil, rich in humus, 
and damper, but the ones in the wettest soil are inferior, 
and it is clear that they do not do as well where the 
soil is damp. 
I cut one down some years ago, intending to try 
how far it stooled well, and if it shot up strong peelable 
shoots ; it did stool as strongly as cinnamon, and could 
obviously be grown and treated in the same way. 
The Singapore plants are very aromatic, and the 
leaf-stalks especially have a strong flavour. The shoots 
are stout and slightly pubescent, but I did not find 
them to peel very easily. 
