and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— December, 1911. 573 



growth anywhere ; for being a very shallow- 

 rooted tree, it is easily blown down by the 

 wind. Organic plant-food in the soil is, per- 

 haps the next important factor ; for without it 

 in a readily available form the tree is thriftless 

 and its yield poor. For these reasons it is, 

 chiefly, that in the systematic cultivation of 

 the nutmeg tree, the best results are always 

 obtained by raising it on the banks of rivers 

 or streams that had been erstwhile covered 

 with virgin forest. In any other soil or situa- 

 tion the tree requires to be heavily manured, 

 watered in the dry weather, and protected 

 from wind. Its cultivation demands some care 

 and attention though no special skill appears 

 to be called for. It may be pursued in the 

 following maimer :— Select for seed large round 

 fresh nutmegs from fruitful mature trees in 

 full bearing rejecting those that rattle in the 

 shell. Sow the seed, in the shell, about a foot 

 and an inch below the surface, in prepared 

 beds or boxes of good soil, in a cool and shady 

 place. Keep the seed beds moist by frequent 

 watering. When the seeds sprout, after a 

 month or two, water the ptents freely parti- 

 cularly in dry weather. On selecting the site 

 for the plantation clear the land and pit it at 

 about 25 or 30 feet apart keeping the pits open 

 for a month or two. Just before planting mix 

 the soil excavated with two parts of burnt 

 earth and one of old cattle-manure. When the 

 plants are 2 or 3 feet high and have from 3 to i 

 verticles of branches transplant them in 

 showery weather screening from wind and the 

 heat of the sun. Water soon after the plauts 

 are put out and, thereafter if possible, every 

 Becond day or at least once a week throughout 

 the dry weather. Banana nurses between the 

 plants give them the requisite shade and pro- 

 tection. Earth up all roots that break out 

 through the surface, keep the soil below the 

 crowns clean weeded, and plough, harrow, or 

 otherwise keep the soii between both lands 

 and nurses in a thoroughly perfect degree of 

 tilth. The plants should be mulched with dry 

 leaves in the hot weather. The nutmeg is re- 

 markably free from the attacks of insect pests 

 or fungi ; but is occasionally subject to invasiou 

 by Loranthus (Indian Mistletoe) and allied 

 green semi parasites. These parasites as well 

 as all suckers from the stem should be carefully 

 removed when they appear. For manuring, 

 carefully loosen the soil lying immediately 

 over the roots and spread the manure evenly 

 upon it. Manure annually after the first fall of 

 rain and until the plants are five years old 

 with the manurial compost suggested above at 

 the rate of three or four bushels per tree. 

 After the fifth and up to the fifteenth year the 

 proportion of the ingredients may with advan- 

 tage be altered to equal quantities of both 

 burnt earth and cowdung and the amount ap- 

 plied itself doubled or tripled, except in the 

 case of the male trees which being left in the 

 proportion of one to every ten female trees 

 should be treated so as to be kept healthy and 

 ntrong but not so vigorous as the female trees. 

 After the fifteenth year the dung in the ma- 

 nure should be only about a month or two old 

 and form double the quantity of the burnt earth. 

 Other organic manures in place of cattle dung 



that may be used with much success aro 

 groundnut oil cake and vegetable mould. The 

 nutmeg begins to bear in the sixth or seventh 

 year, attains to full between the fifteenth and 

 thirtieth years and continues to bear two or 

 three crops a year annually up to the eightieth 

 year when the yield begins tb decline. Trees 

 more than a hundred years old planted by the 

 descendants of the Dutch in Cochin are still in 

 good condition aud bearing on the right bank 

 of the Periyar in north Travancore, Again a 

 small garden of nutmeg trees planted by Dr. 

 Heifer at Kaupya in Mergui are still productive 

 under the care of the Chinese Babas. About 

 two-thirds the number of trees planted out 

 will be generally female trees which bear on 

 an average in the fifteenth year about 2,000 

 nuts each. Varying with size from 80 to 150 

 nuts weigh a pound, so that the yield per tree 

 at the lower rate is about 13 pounds per annum. 

 The yield of mace is usually about one-fifth the 

 weight of the shelled nuts but its value is twice 

 as much as the latter. The price of nutmegs in 

 the London market varies from 6d to Is per 

 pouud and of the mace from Is to 23 per pound 

 according to size and quality. The value of the 

 annual yield of an acre holding only 30 bear- 

 ing trees estimated on the lowest weights of 

 produce and on the mean, in each case of the 

 market rates would be about 18. This is the 

 possible average annual return from an acre 

 in the fifteenth year which is but the com- 

 mencement of maturity but as the estate would 

 be productive for at least seven years previous 

 to maturity a considerable and increasing pro- 

 fits admit of being annually taken from and after 

 the commencement of productivity. — Capital. 



THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF TEA. 



Thomas Martindale of Philadelphia, who has 

 just returned from a hunting trip in the Maine 

 woods, in a letter to the "Journal of Commerce" 

 lauds the value of tea as a beverage. He says : 



"Let us contrast the economy of the use of 

 tea as against the present prevailing prices f jr 

 coffee. The consumer can, or should, easily buy 

 a pound of really good tea for 50e, and out of 

 this 16 ounces of tea the consumer gets au 

 average of 240 cups of good, strong tea, or 

 about 1-5 of a cent per cup, whereas a pound of 

 good coffee, costing say 30c, will only t iroduoo 

 about 75 cups, or very much more than double 

 the price of tea. As between the virtues of the 

 two beverages I have over and over again tested 

 them under the best conditions that a man can 

 have, namely in the pursuit of big game where 

 the hardebt sort of walking, say up to the high 

 mountain elevations, or down to the lowly bogs 

 is necessary, day after day, in all conditions of 

 weather, rain or snow or excessively low or 

 equally excessive high temperatures prevail. 



Under this crucial test tea will sustain a man's 

 vigor and keep his spirits up much easier than 

 coffee without leaving any bad after effects such 

 as sleeplessness and indigestion. 



The rank and file of the working people of 

 Great Britain, Russia, Poland, Sweden, JN or way, 

 Denmark and in our own far Northern sections 

 as well as in those of Canada have found this 



