More Stories For Children

  CINNAMON TREES.

THE cinnamon tree, whose bark yields the spice so named, grows in India, but specially flourishes in the island of Ceylon. 

Bishop Heber in his Journal writes: "In the afternoon we drove through the far-famed cinnamon gardens, which cover upwards of seventeen thousand acres of land on the coast, the largest of which are near Colombo. The plant thrives best in a poor, sandy soil, in a damp atmosphere; it grows wild in the woods to the size of a large apple-tree; but when cultivated is never allowed to grow more than ten or twelve feet in height, each plant standing separate. The leaf is something like that of the laurel in shape, but of a lighter color; when it first shoots out it is red, and changes gradually to green. It is now out of blossom; but I am told that the flower is white, and appears, when in full bloom, to cover the garden.

"After hearing so much of the 'spicy gales' from the island, I was much disappointed at not being able to discover any scent, at least from the plants, in passing through the gardens; there is a very fragrant smelling flower growing under them, which at first led us into the belief that we smelt the cinnamon, but we were soon undeceived. On pulling off a leaf or a twig, one perceives the spicy odor very strongly; but I was surprised to hear that the flower has little or none.

"The manager of the cinnamon gardens good-naturedly sent some of the cinnamonpeelers to us, that we might see the way in which the spice is prepared. They brought with them branches of about three feet in length, of which they scraped off the bark with knives, and then, with a peculiar-shaped instrument, stripped off the inner rind in long slips; these are tied up in bundles, and placed to dry in the sun, and the wood is sold for fuel."