The Ceylon bark is characterized by being cut obliquely at the bottom of the quill while other kinds are cut transversely. Ground cinnamon will deteriorate very rapidly. Cinnamon is so singularly sensitive in the bark that great care has to be taken in regard to its surroundings in shipping aboard vessels to prevent loss. Recourse has been made to various expedients, but it is found that the only effective safeguard is to pack bags of pepper between the bales. Ceylon alone exports 6,000 pounds of bark to this country annually in gunny bags of about 100 pounds each. Colombo (see illustration), which has one of the largest botanical gardens and the largest cinnamon grove in the world, is the principal city of export. Cassia Buds (flores cassiæ immature clavelli cinnamomi) are the calyces of the immature flowers of the cassia tree which yields cassia lignea. The cassia buds of commerce bear a resemblance to cloves but are smaller and have the odor and flavor of cassia lignea or cinnamon. They are gathered in an unripe state at about one-fourth their normal size and are exported from Canton in piculs of 150 pounds each. Canton exported about 100,000 pounds in the first quarter of 1905, and Canton exports 19,000 piculs of cassia cinnamon of 133 pounds each and 500 piculs of twigs annually, and it is the principal city of export in the world for cassia barks. In Southern India the cassia buds are gathered from a variety of wild Cinnamomum iners reinw in a mature state, but they are inferior to the Chinese cassia buds. They have the appearance of nails with roundish heads of various sizes, and if completely dried the receptacle is nearly dark, firmly embracing the embryo seed, which protrudes. Seeds which are used for seeding are obtained from trees ten years old and upward, which are not cut back but are allowed to grow naturally from fifty to sixty feet apart, while the balance of the orchard is cut down every six years for the bark. The seed trees are cut only in cases of necessity to supply a great demand for the thick bark on the trunks, when some can be sacrificed. The Chinese frequently adulterate the oil of cassia with colophony, which may be easily detected, as it has a greater specific gravity. Extra pale colophony has a specific gravity of 1.070 and the pale colophony has a specific gravity of 1.110. Any oil heavier than 1.070 should be handled with suspicion. The darker the sample and the higher the specific gravity, the greater the adulteration. The tips of the branches and the other trimming which collects are carefully dried and distilled and sold as cinnamon oil.