NUTMEGS AND MACE 119 



of guano on his trees, and found it unsatisfactory. He 

 considered it the least beneficial substance that could be 

 given to trees. It caused the trees to assume a deeper 

 tint of foliage and at first to throw out young shoots, but 

 there seemed to come a very unpleasant reaction after- 

 wards, and he was inclined to think that the quality 

 of the produce deteriorated. Some of the Chinese in 

 Province Wellesley used the urine from the coolie lines, 

 and others the night-soil. It is said, however, that if 

 these manures are once used on a tree it is necessary 

 always to use it, or the tree fails. 



It is probable that the evil effects of these manures 

 are due to their too rapid decomposition in a hot tropical 

 climate, and the production of excess of ammonia caused 

 by this decomposition. Guano was quite a new manure 

 in Dr. Oxley's time, and he probably used it in excess. 

 If used in smaller quantities, and where possible allowed 

 to rot till a portion of the ammonia has been dissipated, 

 very different results might have been obtained. The 

 Chinese in the Malay Peninsula keep their pigs in sties 

 with a floor of planking above a large cemented tank, 

 into which fall all the excrements of the animals. This 

 pig-manure is highly approved of by the planters for 

 nutmegs. They also use prawn-dust. This consists of 

 the shells and waste bits of prawns used in making the 

 well-known Malay condiment " Blachan." Fish refuse, 

 either used in a liquid form or solid, is considered very 

 valuable, and blood and oilcake imported from Java are 

 also considered by the Malays as very suitable manures. 

 Dr. Oxley got excellent results from the carcasses of 

 animals buried near the trees, and I have seen poor 

 nutmeg trees develop into good fruiting trees very 

 shortly after a dead pariah dog or two were buried at 

 their roots. 



In some parts of the peninsula planters used bat 

 guano from the limestone caves, which is found there 

 in immense quantities, and consists of bat-dung mixed 

 with lime in the form of a powdery dust. It was 

 imported in junks from the Lanka wi Islands north of 



