196 SPICES 



CHAP. IV 



century, and at the beginning of the nineteenth century 

 they were commonly mixed with clove buds and distilled, 

 in order to cheapen the price of clove oil (Grildenmeister 

 and Hoffmann, Volatile Oils). 



Mother -Cloves. These are the dried fruits of the 

 clove. They contain less clove oil than the buds, but 

 are occasionally exported to Europe for making clove 

 oil. 1,050 bags were sold in England in 1873 at 2d. to 

 3d. per Ib. 



In the old days of clove cultivation in Penang most 

 of the mother-cloves went to China, the Chinese having 

 a fancy for them for medicine. The planters had an 

 idea, however, that the production of mother-cloves 

 exhausted the tree, which is possible. As a rule, 

 the planter naturally gathers his whole crop of flower 

 buds, so that no mother-cloves are left on the trees, 

 except those required for propagating, but frequently 

 in picking a certain number of flowers are left here and 

 there, which develop into mother-cloves. There is 

 nothing to be gained by leaving them to fruit, however, 

 as there is a better demand for the clove-buds than for 

 the mother-cloves. 



LITERATURE 



BUEE. Narrative of the Successful Manner of Cultivating the Clove Tree 



in Dominica. 

 KARSTEN. Annales du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, vol. x. p. 24 



(Gephaleurus). 



MARSHALL WARD. Trans. Linn. Soc., 1881, vol. ii. p. 87. 

 CUNNINGHAM. Trans. Linn. Soc., 1800. 



