16 ODOEOGRAPHIA. 



into separate boxes with sliding tops and numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4^ 

 in the order I have mentioned them. At the expiration of the 

 first year they were all sound. After that of the second, I found 

 three worm-eaten nuts in Xo. 1, and two in Xo. o, but those in 

 Xos. 2 and 4 remained untouched The injured nuts were allowed 

 to remain, and after the lapse of the third year five worm-eaten 

 ones were discovered in Xo. 1, three in Xo. 3, and two in Xo. 4 : 

 those in Xo. 2 being in their original state. Upon examining the 

 several boxes of nuts after a lapse of four years and four months 

 from the commencement of the experiments, the number of 

 decayed nuts in Xos. 1, 3 and 4 had not increased, and the nuts 

 in Xo. 2 were as good as they were on the day they were 

 put into the box. These experiments not only prove the 

 superiority of liming in the dry way, but also the fact that the 

 progress to general decay in a heap of nutmegs, even after the 

 insect has established itself, must be a work of years." 



The custom of " limine^ " nutmeo-s ijv the " wet " method is, how- 

 ever, still much in use; and the predilection in favour of the spice 

 so prepared, is so strong in certain countries, that nutmegs exported 

 from their native place in the unlimed condition are frequently 

 limed in London to suit the markets of the countries to which they 

 are ultimately destined. Penang nutmegs are always shipped 

 from that place in their natural condition, — unlimed. The 

 unlimed, or " brown nutmegs " (sometimes mixed with cloves, as in 

 experiment Xo. 4 above quoted) are highly esteemed in England, 

 and even preferred by some to the limed produce ; most probably 

 from the greater facility of detecting the flaws in them in their 

 naked state. 



XuTMEG CuLTiVATiox IX JAMAICA. In the " Bulletin of the 

 Botanical Department of Jamaica " for October, 1891,* it is stated 

 that " a large stock of the very finest nutmegs for seed has been 

 imported to Jamaica from Grenada, and has been sown in the Hope 

 Gardens, and when ready for distribution will be sold at the very 

 low rate of three half-pence each, in large or small quant^ities. It 

 is hoped that these arrangements will tend to develop the planting 

 of nutmegs on a large scale in suitable districts in Jamaica. 

 . . . . The germination of the seed in large quantities and the 

 care of the seedlings, is said to require the strictest attention to 

 prevent extensive loss. From the seed-bed, the seedlings are 



*ALstracted into Pliarm. Journ. [3] xxii., 656. 



