Cultivation of .Nutmegs and Cloves in Bencoolen. 323 



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mouldering trunks of trees ; and next to these are to be ranked 

 the open plains. Declivities are objectionable from the risk of 

 the precipitation of the mould and manure into the subjacent ra- 

 vineSj by the heavy torrents of rain that occasionally deluge the 

 country. Above all, the plantation must be protected from the 

 southerly and northerly winds by a skirting of lofty trees, and if 

 nature has not already made this provision, no time should be 

 lost in belting the grounds with a double row of the Cassuarina 

 littorea and Cerbera manghaSj which are well adapted for this 

 purpose. This precautionary measure will not only secure the 

 planter against eventual loss from the falling off of the blossom 

 and young fruit in heavy gales, but will prevent the up-rooting 

 of the trees, a contingency to which they are liable from the 

 slender hold ther roots have in the soil. If the plantation is ex- 

 tensive, subsidary rows of these trees may be planted at conven- 

 ient distances. iVo large trees whatever should be suffered to grow 

 among the spice trees, for these exclude the vivifying rays of the 

 sun and arrest the descent of the salutary night dews, both of 

 which are essential to the quality and quantity of the produce. 

 They further rob the soil of its fecundity, and intermingle their 

 roots with those of the spice trees. It is true that by the protec- 

 tion they afford they prevent frequently the premature bursting 

 of the husk, occasioned by the sudden action of a hot sun upon 

 it when saturated with rain ; but the loss sustained in this way is 

 not equal to the damage the spice trees suffer from these intru- 

 ders. Extensive tracts of land are to be met with in the interior 

 of the country, well adapted for the cultivation of the nutmegs 

 and cloves, and to these undoubted preference is due. 



In originating a nutmeg plantation, the first care of the culti- 

 vator is to select ripe nuts, and to set them at the distance of a 

 foot apart in a rich soil, merely covering them very lightly with 

 mould. They are to be protected from the heat of the sun, oc- 

 casionally weeded, and watered in dry weather every other day. 

 The seedlings may be expected to appear in from 30 to 60 days, 

 and when four feet high, the healthiest and most luxuriant, con- 

 sisting of three or four verticels, are to be removed in the com- 

 mencement of the rains to the plantation, previously cleared of 

 trees and underwood by burning and grubbing up their roots, and 

 placed in holes dug for their reception, at the distance of eighty 

 feet from each other, screening them from the heat of the sun and 

 violence of the winds. It is a matter of essential importance that 

 the ground be well opened and its cohesion broken, in order to 

 admit of the free expansion of the roots of the tender plants, and 

 that it be intimately mixed with earth and cow manure, in the 

 proportion of two-thirds of the former to one-third of the latter. 

 The plants are to be set in rows as well for the sake of regular- 

 ly as for the more convenient traversing of the plough, which is 



