124 SPICES 



CHAP. 



heavy croppers, while others are much less productive. 

 This depends chiefly on the soil and the method of 

 cultivation, amount of shading, distance between the 

 trees, amount and quality of manuring. Dr. Oxley, 

 writing of the cultivation in Penang and Singapore, says : 

 "The best trees do not show flower before the ninth 

 year, and one such tree is worth a score of others. 

 This will be evident when it is stated that I have seen 

 several trees which yield more than 10,000 nuts in a 

 year, whereas I believe there is not a plantation in 

 Singapore that averages 1000 from every tree." 



Nicholls mentions trees as giving 20,000 nuts a year. 

 Warburg states that in Banda trees seldom give as 

 much as 3000, Simmonds gives from 1000 to 5000, 

 and a tree in Jamaica is said to have given 4000. 



Good trees should/verae fromJJiOQ to 2000 nuts 



n the matter of weight, each tree should give 

 "fjnnt-m p -g a t 1 1b, of TTWP Some trees give much 

 more than this. Hopkins, quoted by Crawford, gives 10 

 to 14 lb., Olivier 12 to 15 lb., Hogendorp 15 to 20 

 lb., and De Sturler mentions a tree as giving 30 to 40 

 lb. of nuts and 9 to 12 lb. of mace. 



In Ceylon, Mr. Dewar says that in his experience 

 about 750 lb. weight of nutmegs, including the shells, 

 and 120 lb. of mace may be obtained from an acre of 

 trees in full bearing. In Grenada, where nutmeg 

 cultivation has been very successful, a tree has given as 

 much as 30 worth of nutmegs in the year. 



In studying these figures it must be remembered 

 that the nutmegs vary much in size, large ones being 

 much more highly valued than small ones, weight for 

 weight, and that some trees may give a comparatively 

 small number of large nutmegs and be more valuable 

 than others which give a larger number of small ones. 



CROPPING 



The tree fruits more or less all the year round, but 

 as a rule in most places the heaviest crop is obtained in 



