142 SPICES 



CHAP. 



and kept in a high state of cultivation for many 

 years. These cultivations and those near Mount Lavinia 

 practically failed. The nuts were few and inferior in 

 quality, notwithstanding every necessary care was 

 bestowed on their cultivation. In 1883 as much as 

 230 acres of nutmegs were returned in the Ceylon 

 Directory as cultivated. 



The tree is recorded, however, as bearing freely in 

 Eatnapura, and seems, by Dr. Trimen's Report, to have 

 done well at Peradeniya. One writer in the Ceylon 

 Observer mentions the failure of trees at Gala from their 

 being planted " kabook," which is, I believe, a Ceylon 

 term for laterite soil, in which they do very well in the 

 Malay Peninsula. There seems, however, to have been 

 at this time an idea in Ceylon that manuring was fatal 

 to the tree, and possibly want of manure had much to 

 do with this failure. 



The cultivation seems by now to have quite died 

 out. Indeed, it was always more of an experimental 

 than a practical cultivation in Ceylon. 



In Africa the nutmeg was introduced into Zanzibar 

 by Sultan Sayyed, but though it grows well it is not 

 extensively cultivated. It bears freely, I learn from 

 Mr. Lyne. It has been also introduced from time to 

 time into West Africa, but no cultivation of any 

 importance has been made there. In Mauritius and in 

 Bourbon it has received more attention, and in 1864 

 2500 kilograms of nutmegs and 4500 kilograms of mace 

 were exported from Bourbon. In 1865 only 1365 kilo- 

 grams of mace and nutmegs were obtained, and still less 

 in 1871, after which the cultivation was abandoned. 1 



In South America. Poivre sent it to Cayenne in 

 1772, and it was cultivated to a small extent from 

 1832 to 1836, but the greatest output was only 200 

 kilograms in 1835, after which the cultivation dwindled 

 away. It was a long time ago introduced into Brazil, 

 British and Dutch Guiana, but no extensive cultivation 

 has ever taken place in any of these places. 



1 Simmons, Tropical Agriculture. 



