CLOVES. 415 



Mitoni, on the road to Chueni, and the cultivation rapidly spread. 

 The different methods by which this cultivation is now carried on 

 are evidently borrowed from the French, and the Swahili word 

 for clove ' garafa/ is probably a corruption of the French word, 

 ^ Giroflier.' " 



It is grown wherever the soil is suitable, from the large and 

 extensive plantations belonging to the Sultan and his family to the 

 few trees owned by the more humble cultivator. 



The soil most suitable for clove cultivation is a dark loam, 

 having underneath a layer of dusky yellow earth intermixed with 

 gravel, also a yellowish or reddish stiff clay ; and these typical 

 soils are found on the island. Certainly the clove tree requires 

 clay, and I observed there was always a marked difference in 

 appearance between trees growing in a clay soil — red for 

 preference — and those found on a lighter ground ; and the finest 

 trees were always either growing on a red clay or else a stiff dark 

 red to darker chocolate soil. 



In establishing a plantation, the seeds are first soaked in water 

 for three days, and when germination has set in they are planted 

 out 6 inches apart, with the bud end above ground, into shaded 

 beds, — the usual practice being to put down tw^o seeds together in 

 case of failure. If a large number of plants are to be grow^n, the 

 seeds are only put down 3 inches to 4 inches apart. Beds are 

 about 6 feet wide and of any length. They are shaded by a flat 

 framework of sticks, over which is placed a layer of either dry 

 grass or cocoanut leaves ; the height of this framework is about 

 3 feet to 3 J feet : there is no regular rule for this, tlie important 

 point being to keep the beds constantly damp. The slaves in 

 charge go over the nursery beds morning and evening, w^atering 

 wherever the surface has become dry, the practice being to sprinkle 

 w'ater with the hand from the water jar. This is done as lono- as 

 the seedling has not thoroughly developed. When the plants are 

 above o-round, it is done everv other dav ; when 6 inches hi'j-h 

 once a week or ten days. The plants are kept on an average from 

 9 months to a year in shaded beds. When tlie plants are about 

 6 inches high they are by degrees hardened by tlie thatch of the 

 framework being gradually removed, and they are then left in the 

 open bed, freely exposed to sunshine for the space of one month or 

 two months before planting out. 



