370 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



from Mexico is 1893 ; Guadeloupe, 1883 ; Re- 

 union, 1897 ; Seychelles, 1906 ; Java, 1888. No 

 export figures are given for Zanzibar, Ceylon, 

 nor for the Straits, though for Tahiti (1895), the 

 author states that of 122,083 kilos, "92 tons 

 went to the United States, 35J tons to France, 

 and the rest to New Zealand and England " — 

 the italics are ours. The nutmeg plant is given 

 as a tree about 30 to 4') ft. in height, though, it 

 is said, in Malaya it is usually much smaller. 

 We have frequently seen 



NUTMEG TREES IN CEYLON 



50 to 60 feet high, and those in the notable 

 grove in Peradeniya Gardens are even taller, 

 bearing heavily, we are informed, twice a year, 

 and have done so for the last 60years or more. It 

 is well knowu that the nutmeg tree is unisexual, 

 i e. bearing either male or female flowers. 

 There are, however, exceptions to this rule, and 

 occasionally one meets with a male nutmeg 

 tree bearing both kinds of flowers and even seme 

 fruits. According to Mr Ridley this is not a 

 rare occurrence, for he says : " A male tree after 

 some years, usually about six, frequently com- 

 mences to produce female flowers, and even- 

 tually becomes wholly female, ' — the italics are 

 ours. He even goes further and states that in 

 Penang and Province Wellesley every pure male 

 tree is cut down as soon as it is recognisable, 

 and only bisexual trees are relied upon to sup- 

 ply the, pollen for the female trees. The idea 

 that both nutmegs and cloves, in order to 

 thrive, must ''smell or see the sea ; ' (meaning 

 they must not be far removed from it), is not a 

 new one, but is erroneous; for we know that 

 both flourish in places a hundred miles or more 

 inland. The author refers to nutmegs in Ceylon 

 in 1883, and concludes : " The cultivation 

 seems by now to have quite died out" — which, 

 of course, is not the case, and we know of one 

 estate alone in the low-country where a large 

 area was planted up with this product not 

 many years ago ; the trees were bearing heavily 

 when we last saw them, and the fruit Was care- 

 fully dried and exported. The author refers to 

 " limed ,: nutmegs in commerce, but does not 

 describe the meaning of the term ; and when he 

 saysihat ''the mace usually costs more per lb. 

 than the nutmeg itself/' he is apparently not 

 aware that its value is usually twice to three times 

 that of the latter. 



Cloves. 



Species of the clove genus, says the author, 

 are 1 natives of the tropical and sub-tropical 

 regions all over the world" (Ireland included 

 presumably), and in describing the flower of the 

 "Cassia Bark" he informs us that " the pistil 

 is in the centre," useful information doubt- 

 less to a person who might be looking elsewhere 

 for it. Of the clove tree, he states, "the whole 

 inflorescence is 1J in, long," when he surely 

 means the individual flower, nottheinfloresence. 

 Allspice {Pimento, officinalis) is said to belong to 

 thesame onluras theclovetree(Eugenia), though 

 the Pimctita is the generic name by which its 

 generally known. Allspice, Mr Ridley presumes, 

 has never producod fruit in Ceylon, which is 

 decidedly wrong. The cinnamon tree is des- 

 cribed as a tree " visually about 20 ft. in height," 

 — it is more usually 40 to 50 ft. The date of 



the latest export of cinnamon from Ceylon is 

 1888 ! " Malayan cassias" are referred to with- 

 out botanical names, and so are the 11 Canary- 

 nut," whatever that may be, and the Mengkudu. 

 It is interesting to know that the pepper culti- 

 vated in the Malaya Peninsula, is so far as the 

 author has seen, of one variety only ; this is 

 remarkable, considering the numerous varieties 

 met with in cultivation. The most recent re- 

 ference given by Mr Ridley regarding pepper in 

 Ceylon appears to be in 1883, and he is obviously 

 not aware that there is a fairly considerable 

 export of pepper from Ceylon at the preseLt 

 day. We are also told that, among other uses, 

 pepper is used in making soap. 



Cardamoms. 

 With regard to cardamoms, "the rhizome- 

 cuttings," we are told, "are called bulbs in 

 Ceylon, and are usually purchased from na- 

 tives." It is recommended not to pull off the 

 whole raceme when gathering the fruit, also to 

 support the leaf stalks with stakes and plantain 

 bast, — an advice which seems more applicable 

 to pot-plants than to a cardamom plantation. 

 No elevation is given for the product, but a 

 process of bleaching is said to be variously done 

 by means of boiling water and a soap mixture, 

 while " starching" of the capsules is said to be 

 done by mean3 of a mixture of "rice, wheat, 

 soap and buttermilk.'' "Ceylon cardamoms" 

 are described as "1 to 2 inches long, 3-sided, 

 and often curved," which unfortunately is a leg- 

 pull (for the author), and the table of cardamom 

 exports for Ceylon ends with the year 1889. 

 There is no excuse for an author to shut his eyes 

 from such knowledge, for this could easily have 

 been obtained from various sources, including a 

 book recently published in Ceylon, and which 

 has obviously been freely made use of (though 

 not acknowledged) by the author, for even a 

 misprint has been unconsciously taken over. 

 Nor is Mr Ridley aware that instead of clipping 

 the cardamoms by hand, the process is often 

 done now by means of a clipping machine in- 

 vented by a Ceylon planter. 



Capsicums. 



With regard to capsicums, we are told that in 

 some couutiies "the s^ed is sown broadcast, 

 and so left," which the author does not con- 

 sider "at all advisable." Further, "the rain 

 is said to spoil the flowers and fruit " (surely 

 there need not be much doubt about it), and 

 that " The seeds, when sprinkled broadcast over 

 the land, produce about 15,000 plants to the 

 acre.'' The latter statement is typical of many 

 similar ones in this spicy volume. " Wada- 

 kaha" (Acorus calamus), a common aroid plant 

 in many parts of the low-country, is included as 

 a spice, because it is said to be sometimes used 

 for flavouring beer, &c. Why, therefore, not in- 

 elude hops ?— and why omit, in addiiion to the 

 important spices above mentioned, such well 

 known condiments as caraway, karapinchafJiur- 

 raya), fennel, garlic, mint, mustard, marjorum, 

 savory, thyme, horse-radish, parsley, sage, etc.? 

 Mr Ridley is apparently under the impression 

 that the Sinhalese coolies, like the Malays, do 

 no work, for, in his enumeration of races 

 supplying cooly labour, the Sinhalese are 

 not mentioned, 



