NUTMEGS AXP MACE. 15 



packed in chests, the seams must be caulked to prevent the 

 admission of air or water. There is no necessity for sorting them, 

 as previously to their sale they are cast into sizes in London. The 

 mode frequently practised in preparing nutmegs for the market is 

 to crack them and dip the kernels in a mixture of salt-water and 

 lime, and to spread them out on mats for four or five days in the 

 shade to dry. Thus prepared, they are termed " limed nutmegs," 

 and in some countries they are preferred. The lime is said to 

 preserve the seeds from insects, but it injures the flavour. (The 

 Chinese wisely prefer to import their nutmegs in the testa, or 

 shell, in which they keep good for a great length of time : the 

 shells constitute one third of the total weight). The process of 

 " liming " was resorted to for the purpose of preventing the 

 germination of the nuts after being shipped to their destination ; 

 l)ut it has been proved tl;iat this process is perfectly unnecessary, 

 and that a simple exposure of the nuts to the action of the sun 

 for a week is sufiicient to destroy the vitality of the eml.)ryo. 

 Immersion in milk of lime destroys many of the nuts ; a second 

 process of desiccation is also necessary. The inutility of the 

 process has l)een further demonstrated by Lumsdaine* 

 in the following words : — "I am convinced from nmch 

 experience that this is a pernicious practice, not only 

 from the quantity of moisture imbibed in this process, 

 encouraging the breeding of insects and rendering the nuts liable 

 to early decay, but from the heating quality of the mixture, 

 producing fissures and occasioning great loss in the out-turn 

 (ultimate weight) ; whereas by limiting them simply in the dry 

 way in the way I have recommended (above), the loss ought not 

 to exceed eight per cent. In May I made some experiments on 

 this subject : I cracked a quantity of nutmegs that had been 

 smoke-dried for two months, and distributed them into four equal 

 portions. I prepared the nuts of one parcel with a mixture of 

 lime and salt-water ; those of the second were rubbed over merely 

 with fine-sifted well-dried shell-lime, such as the natives use with 

 their betel, although I have no doubt but that recently -prepared 

 and well-sifted common lime would answer equalh^ well ; those of 

 the third parcel were mixed, unlimed, with one-third of their 

 weight of whole black pepper : and those of the fourth, also 

 unlimed, with the same proportion of cloves. They were then put 

 * Journal of the Indian Archipelago, V., p. 78. 



