NUTMEGS AND MACE 



125 



May and June, and again in August and September. In 

 the Straits Settlements the July and August crop is the 

 heaviest, though fruit can be obtained all the year. 

 This coincides with the season for the cropping of fruit 

 trees. Crawford says that three crops are recognised in 

 the East Indies, one at the end of July and in August, 

 which gives the best nuts ; the second in November, the 

 heaviest cropping time ; and another at the end of 

 March. Lumsdaine says that the great harvest in 

 Sumatra is obtained in the period from September to 

 December, and a smaller one from April to June. 



The fruiting seasons in Trinidad are shown in a 

 table published by Mr. Hart in 1895. He gives a daily 

 average of fruit from trees in the Botanic Gardens for 

 five years, thus : 



January 



February 



March 



April 



May 



June 



65-8 

 111-2 

 224-6 

 374-2 

 402-2 

 442-0 



July 

 August 

 September 

 October . 

 November 

 December . 



405-4 



405-8 



304-2 



210-6 



65-8 



55-6 



The steady rise from February to June and falling 

 off from July and August to December is well marked. 

 This is quite distinct from the East Indian two-cropping 

 periods, and is probably due to climatic differences. 



Lumsdaine states that the trees yield most abun- 

 dantly every second year. This is usually the case in 

 fruit trees all over the East. A heavy crop one year is 

 followed by a short crop the next, and vice versa. 



PESTS 



ous 



Phloeosomus cribratus, Blandford. The most injuri- 

 insect to the nutmeg tree that I have seen is a 

 very small Scolytid beetle belonging to this species 

 which I found in abundance destroying the trees in 

 Penang and Province Wellesley. There seemed to be 

 two species attacking the trees. The first one is a short 

 cylindrical beetle, only J in. in length, of a dark-brown 



