The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-11-15
IM CINNAMON GARDENS.
Feeling tho Bark and Preparing 1t Il
MarKet.

visit, which was made in Nav, lust {
the commencement OF the peeling Sc;
son, and we were therefore afforde
the opportunity of seeing how CHM;
mon is prepared for the market. Til
tree, which is known as the cinnamo
laurel, in its natural state grows t
the height of forty feet; and we wer
told it is very plentiful in the forest
and jungles in certain parts of Ceylon
where 1T is apparently indigenous
The shoots from which the sticks o
cinnamon are obtained with which we
are familiar seldom grow to greater
height than fifteen feet AS our guide
informed us, they are cut down to the
I stump every year, and new crop OF
saplings springs up in their place. The
young leaves of the cinnamon laurel
are at first of a vivid scarlet color, but
assume a dark green hue when the
berries, which develop from small
white flowers, have ripened. These
berries are of a brown or purple color
and fragrant oil is obtained from
them by the natives with which they
anoint their bodies Wax tapers are
also made from the berries, which are
nsed in the temples of the Buddhists.
We saw numbers of natives at work
on the plantations 1t is the inner
bark of the shoot" which furnishes
the cinnamon of commerce, and the
preparation consists of first stripping
off the leaves, and after cutting the
shoot into pieces of convenient
length. peculiar looking knife is
used, with which the bark is slit and
then peeled off with the fingers, in
pieces as nearly as possible of uniform
size. The men who cut and peel the
shoots belong entirely to the Chalia
caste. While thus toiling they do not
wear clothes above their waists, and
for headdress use either white tur-
ban or coil the hair and fasten it with |
a comb of tortoise she'll, after the |
curious fashion peculiar to the male
Cingalese. The Chalias earn about
twelve cents of our money day.
It's necessary, before taking the next
step, to lay the bark aside for time
until it is in proper condition for
scraping, as the outer skin has to be
removed. This is done by curling the
still soft and pliable bark around q
stick, which is held by the left hand
and also secured in position by the
feet of the stripper. The outer skin
OF the bark is then carefully scraped
away The pieces are deity held in
place by lodging them in frame of
crossed sticks, and holding them there
by means of the toes while the delicate
operation is performed. The bark is
then placed in the sun to dry, and
naturally curls up into the quilts which
form the articles of commerce. Three
or four of these quilts or sticks are
placed inside one another to prevent
breakage, and the cinnamon is then
ready for shipment The bundles are
composed of assorted cinnamon sticks
and usually weigh about thirty pounds.
The reason that almost all the CHINA
mon used to-day is grown in Ceylon is
probably due to two causes. In the
first place, although cinnamon is not
believed to have been indigenous to
ceylon, nowhere else has it been found a
70 susceptible to the highest cultiva-
lion. The cinnamon grown in the
philippine islands, for instance, is not
% be mentioned in comparison with
,he Ceylon product in fact, Ceylon
iinaamcu monopolizes the market
The other cause of its rarity elsewhere
S the severe penalties imposed by the
Portuguese and Dutch during their
ule in Ceylon for exporting it, which
made it practically impossible to get
eeds or plants out of the country for
propagation elsewhere. The high
rice at which cinnamon was kept for
! long time was maintained by destroy
ng any surplus that was produced, and
hus making it difficult to obtain. In
he latter part of the eighteenth CEN
ury cinnamon sold for as much as
ighteen shillings a pound, where it
ow brings but one shilling. The Coy
rnment monopoly has been abolished,
nd cheaper grades from various tropic- :
! countries are now on the market l
The plantations were originally o
tarted by the Portuguese in the n
fteenth century, and were formed by q
'eeding out other trees in the jungles
nd thus affording a better oppor- p
unity for the cinnamon shrubs to Il
evelop. The Dutch followed the e
ortuguese in the control of this valua- IL
lie monopoly, and took the most self o.
b precautions to secure themselves CT
eavy revenue from the sale of the d,
nnamon crop. We were informed pi
lat one of the principal uses to which
nnamon is now put is in the manu- III
'cture of chocolate. = Demorest's d:
agazine. of
fr