if? ISSl-.] 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 
ISl 
OINNAMON CULTURE IN CEYLON. 
About 1770 Do Coko coucoivocl tho happy 
idea, iu opposition to tho uuivoraal projudieo 
in favor of wild-growing Cinnamon, of at¬ 
tempting tho cultivation of tho troo in Coylon. 
This project was carried out under Governors 
Falck andVander Grail with extraordinary 
success, so that tho Dutch were able, inde¬ 
pendently of tho Idngdom of Kandy, to fur¬ 
nish about four hundred thousand pounds of 
Cinnamon annually, theroby supplying the 
entire European demand. In fact, they com¬ 
pletely ruled the trade, and would oven burn 
the Cinnamon iu Holland lost its unusual 
abundance should reduce the price. 
So determined were the Dutch to retain 
the monopoly iu the produce of Cinnamon 
that the plants were limited to a certain 
number, and all above that number destroyed, 
besides which large quantities of Ciunamou, 
after having been prepared for market, were 
frequently tlirowu into tlie sea or burnt. It 
is recorded that on the 10th of June, 1700, 
an enormous quantity of Cinnamon was 
wantonly destroyed near the Admiralty at 
Amsterdam. It was valued at eiglit millions 
of livres, and an equal quantity was burnt 
on the ensuing day. Tho air was perfumed 
with this incense; the essential oils, freed 
from their confinement, distilled over, mix¬ 
ing in one spicy stream, which flowed at the 
feet of the spectators; but no person was 
suffered to collect any of this, nor on pain of 
heavy punishment to rescue the smallest 
quantity of the spice from the wasting 
element. 
When Ceylon came into the hands of the 
English in 1796, the Cinnamon trade became 
a monopoly of the English East India Com¬ 
pany, and it was not till 1833 that this 
monopoly was finally abolished, and the 
Cinnamon trade passed into the hands of 
merchants and private cultivators. 
Avery heavy duty, to the extent of a third 
or half its value, was imposed upon Cinna¬ 
mon up to within so recent a date as 1853. 
At the present time by far the largest pro¬ 
portion, as well as the finest quality, is 
obtained from Ceylon, where extensive plan¬ 
tations exist. 
The Cinnamon-tree, which is very variable 
in fonn and size, is known to botanists as 
Oinnamomum eeylanicimf It is very gener¬ 
ally distributed in the Ceylon forests up to 
an elevation of from 3000 to 7000 feet. 
The best quality bark,is obtained from a 
particular variety, or cultivated form, bear¬ 
ing large, irregular leaves. The barks, how¬ 
ever, of all the forms are very similar in 
appearance, and have the same characteristic 
odor, so that it is sometimes impossrble to 
distinguish the best trees fr'om appearance 
alone. It is- not uncommon, indeed, for t e 
Cinnamon peelers, when collecting bark from 
uncultivated plants, to taste a small portron 
before commencing operatiorrs, and to pass 
over some trees as unfit for their purpose. 
On the south-west coast of Ceylon, on a s rrp 
of country some twelve or fifteen miles broad, 
between Negumbo, Colombo,, and a ma, 
the best quality of Cinnamon is fm'n up o 
an elevation of 1500 feet. 
Sir Emerson Teiment states tha e ve 
principal gardens in the abovd distrrc^ were 
each froni fifteen to twenty miles inorreum 
tereuco. Owing, however, to tho enormous 
oxteiit of Cofibc cultivation, up to within the | 
list few years, many of tho Cinnamon gardens I 
lavo given place to Coffee, which has since , 
been so seriously devastated by the llcmilcia \ 
msidtnx, that Coffec-phinting has in many : 
plantations boon itself abandoned. ! 
Tho management of the Cinnamon planta- ! 
tion has been described 
the Oak coppice in England. The jilants are 
pruned to prevent their becoming trees, so 
that several shoots spring up, four or five of 
which are allowed to grow for a year or two. 
At this period tho grayish-green bark begins 
to change color, and to assume a brownish 
tint. As the shoots arrive at tho proper 
state of maturity, at which time they are 
usually from six to ten feet high, and from 
half an inch to two inches tiiick, they are cut 
down with a long-handled hatchet-shaped 
knife, known as a caliy. The leaves are then 
stripped ofl’, and the bark slightly tiimmed 
of irregularities, the trimmings being sold as 
Cinnamon chips. It is next cut through at 
distances of about a foot, and cut down also 
longitudinally; it is then very easily removed 
by insertinga smal 1 sickle-shaped knife,called 
a mama, between the bark and tho wood. 
After removal the pieces of bark are care¬ 
fully put one into another and tied together 
in bundles. In this state they are loft for 
twenty-four hours or longer, a kind of fer¬ 
mentation taking place which helps the re¬ 
moval of the outer bark. To effect this, each 
piece of the bark is separately placed on a 
stick of wood convex on one side, and by 
carefully scraping with a knife, the outer and 
middle layers arc removed. At the expira¬ 
tion of a few hours the smaller quills are 
placed within the larger, and the bark emding 
round forms a sort of solid stick, generally 
about forty inches long. These sticks are 
kept for a day in the shade to dry, and 
then placed on wicker trays for final drying 
in the sun, and when thoroughly dried are 
made iuto bundles, each weighing about 
thirty pounds. 
Notwithstanding that the Cinnamon j)lan't 
has been introduced iuto India, Java, China, 
Senegal, Brazil, West Indies, and other parts 
of the world, the bark imported from these 
places is deficient in aromatic qualities, aud 
Ceylon Cinnamon still holds its own as the 
very best quality brought into the market.— 
London Gi-ajjhic. 
SAND-BINDING PLANTS IN INDIA. 
In his report to the Government Revenue 
Department, Dr. Bidie states that the plants 
formerly employed near Madras were chiefly 
the Goat’s-foot Creeper, Ipomaia pcs-caprai, 
and the spiny, pink-like grass, Spinifex. 
sq^tCarrosus. Lately, however, extensive plan¬ 
tations of Casnarlna muricata have been 
made with decided success. This tree. Dr. 
Bidie says, exists now for many miles along 
the • coast north and south of Madi’as, and 
has greatly improved tho appearance of 
what was before a sun-beaten, sandy waste. 
There can bo no doubt, also, that the plan¬ 
tations have rendered the fields behind them 
more valuable for affording shelter, and in 
some eases have permitted land to be brought 
under cultivation which would otherwise 
have remained in a waste state. 
The Casnarina is a very hardy plant near 
the sea, and will gi'OW down ,to high-water 
mark even amongst loose sand. The secret 
of its flourishing in such situations is duo to 
tho fact that the subsoil water is always near 
tho surface, and that the sand, although 
apparently barren, isgenerally largely mixed 
with decayed organic matter. When the 
trees in a Casnarina plantation are left un- 
prunod, they throw out decumbent horizontal 
branches, which develop roots, and thus fix 
as similar to that of i tlio sand. If the trees are cut, these rootimr 
A rni. .1, If 1 f ..® 
branches, when left intact, throw up shoots 
and thus the forest is naturally renewed. In 
the shade of an established Casnarina plan¬ 
tation the gi’ound is littered with the minute 
twigs shed by the trees, and this top-dressing, 
if left undisturbed, shortly decays and fi-ueti- 
fies the soil. The importance of the Casna¬ 
rina in the reclamation of waste sandy tracts 
on the Indian coast can hardly be overesti¬ 
mated. 
A GREEK OLIVE-OIL FACTORY. 
From the churches our host took us to 
inspect an olive-oil factory, of which there 
are several in Pyi'ghi, so that the stream 
which waters the village is brown with 
olive-juice, like water tinged by peat in an 
Irish bog. Here they use no machinery or 
modern appliances in pressing the oil,— 
merely the old primitive wooden press. 
Women, or sometimes mules, walk round 
and round, revolving a wheel which crushes 
the Olives; in this condition they put them 
into sacks, and then into that “ black-faced 
heifer w’hich devours oak-wood,” as the 
Chiotes, in their figurative way, are wont to 
describe their ovens. The sacks are then 
placed one over the other iu the press, and 
two men turn a post which pulls a rope, 
which drags a stick, which tightens the 
press, aud the oil oozes into the receptacle 
prepared for it, with water iiiside. The oil 
and water, of eom'se, do not amalgamate, 
the di'egs sink to the bottom, and the pure 
oil flows iuto jars prepared for it. 
It is impossible to realize the affection 
lieople have for Olives iu a purely olive-giow- 
ing country. “ An Olive with a kernel gives 
a boot to a man,” is a time adage with them. 
It is the principal fattening and sustaining 
food in a eoimtry where hardly any meat is 
eaten. It takes the place of the Potato in 
Ireland, and on the Olive crop depends the 
welfare of many. An olive-yard is presented 
to the church by way of glebe, and the peas¬ 
ants collect on a stated day to gather these 
sacred Olives, which they buy from the 
ehm-ch, and always at the highest market 
value.— Macmillan^s Magazine, 
GARDENRRS IN FRANCE. 
A correspondent of Der Gartenfreimd gives 
a sketch of the mode of life of a journeyman 
gardener in Fi'anoe, from personal experi¬ 
ence. According to the writer’s experience, 
the position of an under-gardener in a pri¬ 
vate establishment in Prance is a most 
unenviable one. In the first place, it is 
compulsory to w'ear the blue linen blouse, 
small clothes, apron, and cap, and to intro¬ 
duce one’s feet into sabots, which are far 
more ungainly and incomparably more noisy 
than boots. On the other hand, one has the 
benefit of enjoying more fresh air in France 
than elsewhere, for the hours are from fom, 
or, at the latest, five in the morning until 
late in the evening. Further .there is no 
distinction between a professional gardener 
and a common laborer. 
