122 SPICES 



CHAP. 



trees prove females, and there is no need for troubling 

 about the comparatively few males. 



The Chinese in Penang and Province Wellesley cut 

 down every pure male tree as soon as it is possible to 

 distinguish the sex, so that the few bisexual trees they 

 possess have to supply all the pollen for the females. 

 In Malacca they leave the males, unless there are too 

 many in the plantation, when they cut them out, and in 

 any case do not waste any manure on them. Besides 

 manuring, occasional pruning and destroying parasites 

 and insect pests, and such weeding as is absolutely 

 necessary, there is little for the planter to do till the 

 trees begin to fruit, which is usually about the sixth year. 



GROWTH OF THE TREE 



The trees in Banda grown in rich soil and under 

 shade attain a much greater height than those of the 

 Straits Settlements grown in full sun and in poor soil. 

 In Banda 50 or 60 ft. in height is not an uncommon size, 

 and Dr. Oxley states that he saw some which he thought 

 could not be less than 70 ft. tall. They commence to 

 fruit generally in the eighth or ninth year, and are not 

 considered in their prime until they are about twenty- 

 five years old. They are said to bear well up to sixty 

 years, and even longer. The male tree is said to be 

 shorter lived than the female. 



In Penang, on the other hand, the trees are much 

 shorter, usually about 20 to 25 ft. tall, bushy and com- 

 pact. Old trees grown in shade have often a wide 

 spread, but they do not attain any great height. 



They commence to fruit between the fifth and sixth 

 years, occasionally earlier, but many (and this is preferred) 

 only commence to fruit in the eighth or ninth year. 

 They are at their best in fifteen years, and fruit well for 

 ten or twenty years more. Thus the whole life history 

 is shorter in the Straits Settlements than in the Moluccas. 

 This is presumably due to the somewhat unnatural 

 method in which the cultivation is carried on in the 



