Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-07-17


have general idea that they are the
product Of tropical countries, but with
most Of us our information regarding
them stops here. Whether they grow
wild in the jungle or are carefully cult
waited in plantations we do not know.
We buy stick cinnamon, for instance, and
occasionally see the grocer take it from
an odd-lOoking sack woven of dried
flags but what do we know of the cul
ture of cinnamon or of the manner of it's
preparation, or whether what we buy is
really cinnamon or some spurious article
with similar flavor? In fact not one
person in a thousand who pays for cinna-
mon at the grocer's ever obtains it. Most
of our pastries, confections, medicines
and perfumery that are supposed to be
favored or perfumed with cinnamon owe
their taste or fragrance to spurious
wild species of plant known as C0ssia,
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-
tivate 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 Cdss5d.
The LdUruS C6l1110nlOn5, or true cinna-
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 bycareful 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 ex-
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 a
coarse, useless, almost flavorless bark.
To produce q 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 Ceylon,
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 it's spice. When the En-
glish took possession of Ceylon they de-
voted great attention to the plantations,
and brought them to a 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
I'd of nd
they were purchased by European capi-
talists, who have brought them to yet
higher culture than the English.
In 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 a species of this
genus. AT regular distances broad shade
trees are allowed to grow to prevent the
fierce rays of the noon-day sun from
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 we'll known Indian custom of
castles or sects to follow the same pro-
fession as their ancestors holds good in
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 superintended by a
"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
cattle or Indian bill-hook over his shoul-
der present an appearance suggestive of
some murderous adventure. AS they
arrive at the cinnamon land they sud
denly halt, and on a 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
thelr heads as if there was actually an
enemy lurking in the thicket. Soon the
tallest ana finest of the cinnamon sticks
are seen TO topple and fall in all direc-
tlons, whilst the quick, sharp click of the
cattle is heard in rapid succession. After q