American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-07-18
Something About Cinnamon.

W
waited in plantations we do not know.
We buy stick cinnamon, for instance, and
occasionally see the grocer take IL from
an odd-looking sack woven OF dried
flags; but what do we know OF the cul-
turc of cinnamon or of the manner OF Its
preparation. or whether what We buy Is
really cinnamon or some spurious article
with a similar flavor? In fact not one
person in IA thousand who pays for CHINA
mon at the grocer's ever obtains 1t. Most
of our pastries, CONNECTIONS, medicines
and pcrfumery that are supposed to ne
favored or pcrfumed with cinnamon owe
their taste or fragrance to spurious
wild species of plant known as Cdsst",
very far inferior to the true cinnamon,
and worth but "A quarter OF the price
- The island of Ceylon furnishes the
whole world with cinnamon, and it is
nearly all of it shipped to Spain. France,
Italy and Russia. Very little of it finds
its way to this country or to England.
Various attempts have been made to cul-
tivatc it in other regions of the tropics,
but without success in producing an arti-
Gle equal to that indigenous to Ceylon
In Java the Dutch have grown it for
shipment to Holland, but it is not even
SO good as the C0ssia.
The Taurus Cinnam0ni, or true CHINA
mon plant, is met with on the
island of Ceylon in all attitudes. 1t is not
however, all of one quality. The fine
spice is only obtained in favorable situa-
tions and by careful culture- The visitor to
Ceylon will find short way inland large
tracts of land planted with cinnamon;
these are called cinnamon gardens, and
are as highly cultivated as the most cX-
quisite flower gardens
In its natural state the cinnamon plant
grows to about the size of the ordinary
apple-tree, but in this condition yields Il
coarse, useless, almost tlavorless bark.
reproduce a marketable article the tree
must be cut down almost close to the
ground, after which tender shoots spring
up, and from these, when arrived at ma
turity, the best spice is obtained.
The Portuguese and Dutch, who at
different times held possession of Ccylon,
paid great attention to the cultivation of
this spice, and drew large revenues from
its expectation From the days of Solo
mon, however long before either Dutch
or Portuguese were known, Ceylon was
celebrated for its spice. When the En-
glish took possession of Ceylon they de-
voted great attention to the plantations,
and brought them to better state of
cultivation than had yet been accom-
plished. The yield some years ranged
as high as 5000 bales of 100 pounds each.
About twenty-five years ago the En-
glish Government sold the whole of their
CluudIOu at duCtiOH, anu
they were purchased by European CAPT
talists, who have brought them to yet
higher culture than the English
In a well-kept cinnamon garden not a
weed is to be seen. Imagine an extent
of 5000 acres of land thickly studded
with beautiful laurels, for, as we have
seen, the cinnamon is species of this
genus At regular distances broad shade
trees are allowed to grow to prevent the
flor pf day frar
scorching the plants. The shade is care
fully regulated, lest by too little the
ground should become parched and fail
to nOurish the plants; or by too much
the shrub should grow poorly and lose
its fine aromatic flavor. A moderate
quantity of light and heat is absolutely
necessary to properly develop the deli
cate essential oil which is the flavor of
the cinnamon Innumerable paths inter-
tersect these great tracts of laurels and
shade trees, and frequent drains are met
with, which are kept carefully open lest
the delicate plants should be injured by
the wet, which causes the leaves to turn
yellow and the bark to become can
kered.
The well-known Indian custom of
castles or sects to follow the same pro-
CeylOn- The culture of the cinnamon
belongs properly to the caste of Chalias,
and though foreigners have brought
many innovations into the island it still
is very largely in their hands. They
work in gangs of twenty-five or thirty,
each of which is superintendent by Il
"Canghau." These are again under the
supervision of European overseer. At
the time of harvesting the gangs of half
clad, savage-looking Chalias marching
along toward the gardens, each with his
cutie or Indian bill-hook over his Shout
der, present an appearance suggestive of
some murderous adventure. AS they
arrive at the cinnamon land they sud
denly halt, and on word from the " Mo-
delier," or native leader, who under the
overseer commands the Canghaus, they
rush helter-skelter though the bushes,
waving their shining bill-hooks over
their heads as if there was actually an
enemy lurking in the thicket. Soon the
tallest and finest of the cinnamon sticks
are seen to topple and fall in all direc-
tions, whilst the quick, sharp click of the
critic is heard in rapid succession. After a
while the Chalias emerge from the bushes
laden with great piles of cinnamon
sticks. These they place under the
shadow of the trees and return to the on
slaught This work is done in about two
hours of the early morning, the gangs
cutting only much as they can peel
during the rest of the day
The works" or peeling- houses, called
in Cingalese waddies," are long sheds
with only sufficient openings in the sides
to admit light enough to work by, and
are rooted with palm-leaves. The fittings
or equipments for work are racks made
of jungle sticks to hold the bundles of
dried spice, and many rows of stout
Irvine running along the upper part of
the building on which the green pipes
or quilts of bark are laid to undergo
their first drying gradually. The men
are paid not by the day, but by the guam
tity of spice they produce, and so work
with a right good Will. AS soon as they
reach the waddie they throw their bun
dies upon the ground, and squatting
down in true Oriental fashion upon "a
small straw mat they draw from their
girdles their crooked peeling knives and
strip the green bark. This pecling
is an expeditions and simple proc
lengthwise down the sticks from
end to end on two sides, and then
by inserting the point of the blade be
tween the bark and the stick and slipping
it Obliquely downward, the whole length
of the bark is easily detached from the
wood. When this portion of the work is
done each man makes up his bundle and
places it on the wooden racks, where it
remains till the next morning
The next day the outer green skin or
cuticle is peeled from the bark. This
work is usually done by women, whose
delicate touch enables them to do it bet
ter than men. AS soon II sufficient
number are scraped they are passed over
To men, who roll the cleaned spice be-
tween their hands into quilts or pipes,