CH. VI] SPICES 87 



Until about six years ago the cultivation of this spice was 

 very profitable, and of course there was a rush into planting it, 

 with results which may be anticipated. A cess has now been 

 established in Ceylon, similar to that on tea, every pound 

 of cardamoms exported having to pay one cent 1 , and with the 

 produce of this cess it is intended to advertise the spice and to 

 endeavour to open new markets for its consumption. It is as 

 yet too early to speak of the success or otherwise of this 

 measure, but in the meantime there has been a drop from the 

 enormous figures of export of 1904. 



Nutmegs. The nutmeg plant (Myristica moschata Thunb., 

 M. fragrans Houtt.) is a native of the Molucca islands, formerly 

 known as the Spice islands. For a long time the Dutch were 

 able to maintain a monopoly of this spice, as of others, burning 

 any excessive supply ; but it was finally carried by the French 

 to Mauritius and Cayenne, and has gradually become distri- 

 buted over the world. It is said that one of the ways in which 

 it was first carried from the Moluccas was by the large fruit- 

 eating pigeons, which swallow the whole seed, large as it is, for 

 the sake of the mace, and afterwards throw it up. 



The nutmeg plant forms a small tree, from 30 to 50 feet in 

 height, and is best cultivated in a loamy soil, at a height not 

 over 1500 or 1800 feet above the sea. It is raised from seed, 

 and the trees are planted about 30 feet apart. The great 

 disadvantage in cultivating the nutmeg is that it is dioecious, i.e. 

 that it bears male flowers on one tree, and female on another. 

 Consequently the planter is liable to find, after waiting about 

 seven years for the trees to flower, that he has got far too 

 many male trees, which of course are useless for fruit. On the 

 average, perhaps, about half the trees will prove male, when 

 really one in about five or six is sufficient. Attempts have of 

 late been made to graft male shoots on to the female trees, but 

 of course this does not get over the difficulty of distinguishing 

 the trees when young. 



The tree bears when about seven years old, and, to judge 

 from those in the Peradeniya gardens in Ceylon, until at least 



1 I.e. every hundredweight He. 1.12 or 1. Qd. 



