Remember the Rainforest 1

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six to seven feet tall and were already producing. They were planted with seed and stake, this last plantation being made with twigs of one to two feet in length and the thickness of a finger, buried in a damp soil, where without difficulty the twig sends out roots.

Cinnamon tree, Laurus cinnamomum

The trees are in rows, with eight to 10 feet away from each other, and are carefully kept free of weeds. To peel the trunk and the twigs, a sharp machete and a smooth stick are used, with which the peels of bark are separated. The chunky ones are scraped off with the knife, to remove the epidermis and the outer green layer without any aroma, but that has a bitter astringent flavor. The process of macerating during half a day in lime water, in order to better fix the volatile oil and the resin of the inner bark, and sometimes, as in India, also employed here; However, our friend Dr. Lacerda does not deem it necessary, as long as the drying in the sun is quick and cautious. The cinnamon of Para equals, in color, the quality of the Indies. Its aroma is weaker and the amount of mucilage is greater; Its flavor similar to that of Cassia Lignea. However, this cinnamon is always better than that which is harvested from the old cinnamon trees in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, and recently placed the sale. The climate of this last city seems to favor less than that of Para the development of this precious spice. In Rio, already at the end of the last century, the viceroys were focused on the cultivation of the cinnamon trees.

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