34 
SELECTED ARTICLES. 
tion the earth is accumulated around the roots, and, to retain 
the water, cocoa nut husks are placed about them, which, in 
time, form an excellent compost. It is cultivated by suckers 
generally, and sometimes from the seed, in which case, the 
young plants are kept in a nursery for a year or two, and then 
transplanted. Besides cinnamon and cinnamon oil, the plant 
yields, from its dark green leaves, a clove oil, which affords a 
very considerable profit. 
While the Dutch held the government of the island, only a 
fixed quantity of cinnamon was allowed to be grown, the policy 
being to get as large a money return for as small a quantity as 
possible; and it is stated, that when the crop was greater than 
the demand, at the established price, the surplus was burned. 
Private individuals were inhibited its cultivation, nor were 
they permitted to cut a branch of the plant, even if it grew 
wild upon their estates, under the barbarous penalty of losing 
a hand. After the English got possession of Ceylon, the East 
India Company obtained a monopoly of the cultivation and 
sale, which was held until the year 1832; its growth and ex- 
portation have since been free, upon paying a duty of three 
shillings per pound on all qualities, equal to about six hundred 
per cent, on the cost of gathering, which is estimated at six- 
pence. During the existence of the monopoly, all the cinna- 
mon was collected by the agents of the Company, sorted, 
packed, and sent to England, whence it found its way to the 
different countries of the Christian world. This course and 
policy brought an inferior article into market under the name 
of cassia, which, from its cheapness, has to a very great extent 
superseded the fine cinnamon. 
"The cinnamon oil is obtained from the fragments of bark 
which are made in pealing, sorting, and packing." 
