NUTMEGS AND MACE 151 



and weight is about four to the ounce. They are sorted, 

 therefore, according to weight. 



No. 1 grade gives 60 to 70 nuts to the pound. 

 No. 2 grade gives 75 to 100 nuts to the pound. 

 No. 3 grade gives 100 to 150 nuts to the pound. 



Broken or worm-eaten nuts, and those too small to be 

 worth selling whole, are used for making butter, as 

 described below. 



Packing. The nutmegs are packed in casks which 

 have been slightly smoked inside, and then treated to 

 a thin coat of lime and water, or in chests. Care is to 

 be taken that the cracks in the boxes are sealed up 

 with dammar or other resin, to prevent the incoming of 

 water. West Indian nutmegs are imported in barrels 

 containing 1^ to 2 cwt., but sometimes in bags or even 

 tea-chests. It is usual to sort them into sizes before 

 packing, but this is not always done, the sorting being 

 done on their arrival in Europe. 1 



USES 



The main use of nutmegs is as a spice, and for trade 

 purposes they are valued according to size, as has been 

 stated above, and smoothness, light colour, and freedom 

 from admixture with long nutmegs, which are found 

 mixed with the oval form, not that 'the long form of 

 the genuine nutmeg is any way inferior to the oval 

 one, but it is liable to be confused with the wild long 

 nutmeg (Myristica argentea) of Papua. Singapore 

 nutmegs are frequently darker in colour than those of 

 Banda, Penang, and Ceylon, but the West Indian ones 

 occasionally show darker patches of colour. 



Defective or broken nutmegs are used either by 

 being ground to make powdered spice for seasoning 

 sausages, or for making nutmeg butter. 2 



The nutmeg contains a quantity about a fourth of 

 its weight of fat, which forms the nutmeg butter of 



1 E. M. Holmes, P/iarmaceutical Journal, March 27, 1901, p. 419. 

 2 Ibid. 



