4G DK. COLLr^GWOOD ON NrTMEG-CULTIVATION IK SINGAPOHE. 



once promised a harvest of prosperity to tlie settlement, but 

 ■whichj after for a few years producing every result that could be 

 desired, was destined to end iu utter disappointment, and, in too 

 many cases, in utter ruin to the proprietors. The nutmeg- 

 plantations of Penang preceded those of Singapore, and were for 

 some years in the hands of the East-India Company, who, after 

 expending considerable sums upon them for some years without 

 receiving an adequate return, finally gave them up in disgust, 

 and ordered them to be sold. Taken up by enterprising planters, 

 the Penang spice-plantations for a time yielded ample returns, 

 owing rather to the care which had been spent upon them by the 

 previous possessors. Singapore became a British settlement in 

 1824 ; and in the infancy of this settlement it was not attempted 

 to vie with Penang in cultivating these expensive plantations : 

 but about 1837 an impetus was given to nutmeg-cultivation in 

 Singapore, with results so promising that ever}i:hing gave way to 

 the mania for planting this species. Large clearances in the 

 jungle were purchased from Government at considerable distances 

 from toAvn; and expensive bungalows were erected upon such 

 estates, and surrounded by plantations of this valued tree ; and 

 nearer the settlement private gardens were turned into nutmeg- 

 nurseries, and the houses were closely surrounded with nutmeg- 

 groves. 



The nutmeg-tree is, when in health, a handsome bushy tree, 

 between 20 and 30 feet high, with numerous dark-green shining 

 leaves. It is evergreen, and ever flowering, so that fruit and 

 flower constantly coexist upon the tree — the flowers small, yel- 



fruit 



great 



a great many male trees are planted and cultivated, being undis- 

 tinguishable froip the female trees until the flowers appear. 

 Such trees are of course useless, since they do not bear, — one 

 male tree to about twenty females being suflS^cient for the pur- 

 poses of impregnation and to ensure the swelling of the ovule. 



The trees were not allowed to be left to the natural powers of 

 the climate and soil, but were richly manured and forced into 

 yielding heav}^ crops. To the manner of doing this, and to the 

 extent to which they were forced into luxuriance, may probably 

 be traced the catastrophe which eventually blotted out nutmeg- 

 cultivation from the settlement. Around each tree, and just 

 level with the outer branches, a trench was dug about one foot 

 deep and one foot wide, and this was filled with a manure of com'- 



