114 NUTMEG 



three months to germinate, but they do not blossom until 

 they are five or six years old. The flower of the female tree 

 is slightly different from that of the male, and as soon as the 

 flowers appear they are planted out ; one male tree to 

 every ten female trees. The trees are considered to be 

 in perfection when they are about twenty years old, but 

 they go on bearing for a hundred years. Once a plantation is 



NUTMEG ESTATE 



formed it needs little attention, for no weeds grow under nut- 

 meg-trees. 



In some countries the fruit is gathered by means of a hook 

 attached to a long pole : a basket near the top of the pole 

 catching the fruit as it falls. But more often it is allowed to 

 fall of its own accord and is merely picked up day by day 

 from the ground. The chief harvest is in the autumn, but 

 there is a smaller one in the spring. Each tree produces 

 four or five thousand nuts in a year. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. In 1584 William Barrett, an Aleppo 



