Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1895 — CINNAMON GARDENING. [ARTICLE]

CINNAMON GARDENING.

Process of Raising and Preparing tha Spica. We were fortunate in the time of our visit to Columbo, which was made in May, just at the commencement of the peelinpr season, in seeing how cinnamon is prepared for the market. The tree, which is known as the cinnamon laurel, in its natural state grows to a height of forty feet, and is very plentiful In the forests or jungles In certain parts of Ceylon, where it is apparently indigenous. The shoots from which the sticks of cinnamon ure obtained seldom grow to a greater height than fifteen feet. They are cut down to the stump every year, and a new crop of saplings springs up in their place. The young leaves of the cinnamon laurel are at lirst of a vivid, scarlet color, but assume a dark green hue when the berries, which develop from small white flowers, have ripened. These berrieß are of a brown or purple oolor, and a 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 used in the temples of the Buddhists. We saw numbers of natives at work on the plantations, cutting, stripping, and scraping the cinnamon, preparatory to its being dried and packed for market. It is the inner bark of the ‘shoot’ which furnishes the cinnamon of commerce, and the process of preparation consists of first stripping off the leaves, and after cutting the shoot into pieces of convenient length, a pecu-liar-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 Challa caste. While thus tolling they do not wear their clothes above their waists, and for a head-dress, either a white turban or a coil of hair, and fasten it with a comb of tortoise shell, after the peculiar fashion peculiar to the male Cingalese. The Chalias earn about 12 cents of our money in a day. It is necessary before taking the next step to lay the bark asidq for a 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 pliubie bark around a 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 deftly held in place by lodging them in a 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 quills which form the article of commerce. Three or four of these quills 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.