The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-10-03
Cinnamon.

1t IS SINE To say that few people now
adays when about to visit King or
Queen would think of taking with
them as present a stick of cinnamon.
Yet. two thousand years ago a mon
arch would have felt very much
pleas with such present, Tor
small quantities of cinnamon were
then very expensive and even royal
school children did not enjoy the
modern privilege of carrying bits of
the pungent bark in their pockets and
slyly nibbling them between lessons.
In those days cinnamon came mostly
from the Island OF Ceylou, but it had
to be carried by the Arabian mer-
chants caravans of camels on q long
Journey across the hot deserts before
coming to that civilized portion OF the
world lying along the shore OF the
Mediterranean Sea.
But. however high its price, it is
certain that cinnamon has been in the
worlds market n great many years.
Herodotus mentions it in his writings,
and Moses in Exodus speaks of the
sweet cinnamon" to be used in max
ing holy ointment.
At the present time cinnamon comes
from the Malabar coast, from Java and
China and from the West Indies, but
still the most productive region, as of
old. is in the southwestern part of
Ceylon.
There the voyagcr approaching the
rocky coasts that guard the little har-
Dor OF the capital city, Colombo. sees
spread out before him a picturesque
scene. The mountains, from one of
the highest OF which, Adams Peak, the
natives assert that Buddha assembled to
heaven, are covered with tropical green,
and groves of palms overlook the one
story houses OF the town.
Here, in the PERFECTLY white "cinna-
non SOIL" rs it is called, surrounding
the city of Colombo, the tree flourisheS
better than IN any other portion of the
known world. The native Cingalese
call the tree "corundoo." They former
Iv used to collect the cinnamon from
the trees growing wild in the forests,
and sold 1t in its natural state; but
now SUI h cinnamon is regarded as of
the lowest grade, and much care is ex-
pended in the cultivation of Letter
trees.
Cinnamon first begen to be properly
cultivated when the Dutch took posses
sion of Ccylon early in the seventeenth
century. They cut down the under
brush that the natives and the i'ortu-
cuese had allowed to almost choke The
trees. and, having drained the south
part of the island, prepared to make
REGULAR business of the cultivation of
cinnamon.
10 obtain the best results it was
necessary that all other nations should
be prevented from participating in this
trade, and so successful were the Dutch
in doing this that for more than one
hundred years the whole world had to
go 10 the city O. Amsterdam for CHINA
mon. OF course, the amount sold
every year at Amsterdam was cnor-
nous, averaging one hundred and sixty
tons every year.
The natives had allowed the CHINA
mon trees TO grow in the forests totheir
natural height, atout twenty or thirty
( ct. but the bark from such trees
would be old and tough. 1t was dis
oye.e that, by keeping the trees
pruned, the young shoots that sprang
up would produce a much finer kind of
cinnamon. This is the method en-
ployed at the present time.
At last, kOWever, in 1915, the Dutch
were forced to yield the island of Cey-
Ion to the English and. soon aiterward.
the trade in cinnamon was thrown
open 10 the world.
In the present day the cinnamon
gardens cover about twelve Thousand
acres around Colombo. not quite SO
large a portion of the country as was
used in this way in the days Of the old
Dutch traders, but still enough 10 pro-
duce great quantitie. of cinnamon. In
some places an acre Of ground viii