IV 



CLOVES 167 



bamboo are often used in estates in which the nurseries 

 are at some distance from the field. The plants can 

 either be raised from seed in the basket or can be 

 transferred to them and allowed to grow on, when they 

 have attained the height of a few inches. The baskets 

 are made by coolies at odd times, or during rain, when 

 no work can be carried on in the field. When the clove 

 tree is planted out it is not removed from the basket, 

 but the whole thing is planted in the ground, where as 

 the plant grows the basket decays away. These baskets 

 are very portable, easy to make, and cheap. They do 

 not interfere with the root growth, nor are they apt to 

 retain the water and cause the plant to become water- 

 logged if by chance it should be kept too long before it 

 is planted out. 



The young plant is, of course, watered when planted 

 and afterwards as long as may be considered necessary 

 according to the dryness of the climate at the time, and 

 till it has well settled into the ground and begun to 

 push out fresh leaves. 



Manuring. In most soils cloves require manuring 

 during their growth, but in Zanzibar no manure is used 

 other than the dead leaves lying about the estate, which 

 are swept to the base of trees. In the Straits Settlements 

 cow-dung is used if procurable, and tl^e prawn-dust, as 

 described under nutmegs, is commonly used. Mulching 

 with cut grass is very beneficial to the young trees. 



Shading. In Penang, the clove like the nutmeg is 

 cultivated on the exposed hills without any shading at 

 all. In Amboyna it is, according to Rumphius, grown 

 with fruit trees or coco-nuts as partial shade. He con- 

 sidered it a good plan to cultivate them under light 

 shade when young, cutting out the shade trees as the 

 clove trees grew. This method has much to recommend 

 it, and is a way that works very well wdth many trees 

 whose original habitat was the forest region. For most 

 trees of this class, sudden exposure of the young plant 

 to full sun does not favour its growth, and may kill 

 it, or at least retard its development. Light shade, 



