164 SPICES 



CHAP. 



red mould peculiar to the locality, so as to reduce its 

 tenacity. 



Soil. The selection of the soil and the position of 

 the ground for the young plant is a matter of great 

 importance. The most suitable soil is a dark loam with 

 a substratum of dark yellow earth mixed with gravel ; 

 a clayey soil suits them well, and in Zanzibar a red 

 clay soil is considered better than a lighter, more open 

 soil. The finest trees were observed in Zanzibar to be 

 growing on a red clay, or stiff dark red to a darker 

 chocolate soil. In the Straits Settlements the black soil 

 of the valleys, which overlies a stiffer clay, is suitable, 

 but in Penang they are commonly grown on the same 

 class of soil as the nutmegs. Some planters recommend 

 a gravelly soil, but this must not be too hard or stony, 

 and should have a good mixture of clay in it. Sandy 

 soil is unsuitable, and still worse is wet, water-logged 

 soil. Water at the roots is fatal to the plant. A 

 number of trees were planted some thirty years ago in 

 the Singapore Botanic Gardens in a locality of this 

 nature. After growing slowly for many years, till they 

 reached the height of about 12 or 14 ft., the greater 

 number perished without flowering. Investigation 

 showed that the roots of the trees had come to a water- 

 bed, and, unable to grow further, had curled and bent 

 in a remarkable way to avoid the water, but unable to 

 get into dryer soil had decayed away, causing the death 

 of the tree. In very stiff yellow clay, especially if 

 exposed to the full sun, they rarely thrive, making but 

 little growth and suffering from various pests. 



The clove, like the nutmeg, appears to be an insular 

 plant. It does not thrive usually at any distance from 

 the sea, and it is commonly said that it requires sea-air. 

 It is very noticeable how the plant has practically 

 only been successfully cultivated in islands of the sea, 

 e.g. Amboyna, the Spice Islands, Penang, Dominica, 

 and other West Indian islands, and the Mascarene 

 Islands. 



In the matter of altitude, it requires and can grow 



