176 SPICES 



CHAP. 



burnt, the roots being carefully dug out and burnt. 

 The ground should be treated with lime, and trees 

 should not be replanted there for some years. The 

 disease, however, appears to be rare, and I have never 

 come across another instance of it. 



Loranihi. The mistletoes attack the clove tree as 

 they d.o the nutmegs (which see), and in Penang I have 

 seen also the parasite Cassytha strangling the branches. 

 It is a yellow, wiry, leafless plant, belonging to the 

 order Laurineae, but having more of the appearance of 

 a dodder. This plant only grows on the sea-shore, so 

 that it is not of frequent occurrence in a clove estate, 

 and its presence on a clove tree is evidence of gross 

 neglect. 



The clove tree in damp spots, or where too closely 

 planted, is very apt to be covered with mosses and 

 hepatics, which grow on the branches as epiphytes. 

 These, though not parasitic, as the mistletoes, but only 

 growing on the outside of. the bark, are not beneficial 

 to the tree, but appear to be rather injurious, often 

 interfering with the growth of the twigs and causing 

 the death of the smaller branches. These mosses should 

 be pulled off and the tree cleaned of all such epiphytic 

 growths. 



CROPPING 



The clove tree commences to produce flower-buds 

 in the fourth or fifth year after planting, in Penang 

 and Zanzibar. If the soil is inferior it is said to take 

 longer, from six to six and a half years. In the 

 Moluccas from six to eight years is the period given. 

 The buds are ready for gathering in August to December 

 in Zanzibar, and about a month later, that is to say, from 

 November to January, in the Straits Settlements. In 

 the Moluccas the harvest takes place twice a year, 

 namely in July and December. 



Just before the buds are produced there is a fresh 

 flush of young leaves put forth, and soon after this the 



