1840.] on the Tenasserim Provinces, tyc. 175 



and so it ought to go on, till nothing but females, with a propor- 

 tionate number of males, are obtained. 



It will also be seen, that in the last calculation no notice is 

 taken of the coffee trees. 



When however the nutmeg trees grow larger, it will be ad- 

 visable to cut down the coffee trees, to leave room for the expan- 

 sion of the first, much more so as the return from coffee is tri- 

 fling compared with that of nutmegs. 



The same is to be observed of arecas, which after twenty-five 

 years begin gradually to produce less ; they ought also to be 

 destroyed, to leave nothing but nutmegs, which continue to yield 

 annually more. 



Nutmeg trees are said to grow eighty years, and to attain 

 a very large size ; we have however no proofs as yet that they 

 will be in these latitudes as lasting as they are in their mother 

 country. 



The return of nutmeg plantations increases annually, and 

 in after years is much higher than ten rupees per tree. There 

 are trees in Penang, which yield annually from 30 to 40 dollars, 

 though not yet full grown. They bear almost without inter- 

 mission throughout the year. 



It would be advisable to use the slender stems of the dead 

 arecas for the purpose of training upon them the pepper vine ; 

 it is however rather probable, that a planter who gets such 

 an ample return from his nutmeg plantation will not take 

 the trouble of beginning a new mode of cultivation with pepper, 

 which after all does not last more than three or four years. 



This now detailed method of cultivation seems the most pro- 

 mising to be followed up in the southern parts of Tenasserim by 

 European settlers, insuring the most solid and ample return 

 of the outlay of the capital, surpassing by far the most ample 

 revenue the sugar plantations in the West Indies ever yielded. 

 Spice is a new branch of tropical agriculture, or rather horti- 

 culture, sprung up only in the course of this century ; former- 

 ly the Dutch government monopolized it exclusively. Penang 

 is hitherto the only British colony which has introduced it, 

 and which begins to astonish the world with the immense 

 profits the owners reap from it. It must however be considered, 



