606 



CLOVES. 



of growth, and rank in the following order, Penang, Bencoolen, Ain- 

 boyna, and Zanzibar. There also enter into commerce as secondary 

 products, clove stalks and mother cloves, or the dried unripe fruit. 

 Clove stalks are largely shipped from Zanzibar and Eeunion. 



This elegant tree grows spontaneously in the Moluccas, and was 

 from thence carried to Mauritius and Bourbon, French Guiana, and 

 the West Indies. When the Dutch took possession of the Portuguese 

 territories in the East Indies, they compelled the people to destroy 

 the clove trees so as- to concentrate the culture in the Amboyna 

 Islands and Ternate. 



After being gathered, the ■ cloves are prepared for shipment by 

 smoking them on hurdles, covered with matting, near a slow wood 

 fire, to give them a brown colour, and they are further dried in the 

 sun. They may then be cut off from the flower branches, and will 

 be found to be purple-coloured within, and fit to be packed in bales 

 for the European market. In some places they are scalded in hot 

 water previously to being smoked, but it is not a practice very gene- 

 rally in vogue. 



Cloves are produced in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. The total 

 average quantity produced is about 7,000,000 lbs., valued at 85,000Z. 

 In 1863 the crop was a total failure. In the following year it was 

 much above the average. Some three or four years ago a hurricane 

 devastated Zanzibar, and the consequence of this disaster was to 

 destroy nearly every clove tree in the island. 



Cloves arrive sparingly from Amboyna, the shipments from Java 

 in 1870 were 1226 piculs, 3200 piculs in 1872, and 5000 piculs 

 in 1874. In 1874 there were 290,000 clove trees, of which 161,260 

 were in bearing. In Ternate the number of clove trees on the 

 average of the three years ending 1874 was 8000. 



In Brazil the cloves of DicypelUum caryophyllatum, which are re- 

 markable for their fine aroma, are largely employed in domestic and 

 medicinal use. 



The following figures give the import of cloves into the United 

 Kingdom : — 



Lbs. Lbs. 



1845 414.486 1860 981,308 



1850 749,646 1865 3,339,184 



1855 864,339 1870 1,089,667 



In 1870, the last year for which there are distinct accounts, the 

 following were our sources of supply : — 





Quantity. 



Value. 





lbs. 



£ 



Holland (Eastern Possessions) , . 



83,623 



1,918 



Egypt 



115,309 



1,386 





757,390 



9,845 





75,345 



970 





.S3, 669 



1,848 





24,331 



407 





1,089,667 



16,374 



