&4 SPICES- THE -XLTMTC 



eslate onPeuang »liicli, at the apfe of about 20 years, 

 measures 42 inches in girth at a level with the ground, 

 and 30 inches at three feet above the surface: one of 

 20 years of age at Aver Etam measures also 4'Jl inches 

 rotmd the stem, am! there are many in other plantati- 

 ons of nearly similar dimensions, 



Thr nutmeg tree has but a slender lateral hold of the 

 soil until it attains to the a#e of 12 or 15 years, but its 

 fap-ront serves tn steady it by striking from four to five 

 feet deep; notwithstanding aU thfe, m\ belief is (hat the 

 tap-root miiilit l>e pruned with advantage in many si- 

 tuations before planting. 



It has not v I, I lieliere, been discovered how the 

 male and female trees are to be distinguished from each 

 other previous to the period of inflorescence. If any 

 planter be in possession, or thinks he rs in possession, of 

 the seen:!, it has nol apparently betrayed itself in re- 

 sults. Should anyone be led by accident or genius to 

 the discovery, and liberally give the planting commu- 

 nity the advantage of it, he will not only deserve the 

 myristicatic wreathe but more solid marks of gratitude; 

 for there ran be no dr>ubt that ignorance on this \ital 

 point enhances the cost of cultivation one-third beyond 

 what ii would otlierwise be, independent of the serious 

 lots of time it entails. Thus, after the sixth year, the 

 sexes may perhaps be known; the superabundant male 

 tree.- — with the except ton of one for every ten females, 

 <>r a> s.nne planters « ill km , one for every twenM fe- 

 male trees— (uust lie rut down ami yoonff plant* 

 placed iu their stead. Many of the*e will, in their 

 turn, prow of rbe Wordier sex and require to be remov- 

 «l. thereby postponing to an indefinite period, perhaps 

 fur twenty vein's, the final arrangement of -the planta- 

 tion. Dr. Lumsdainchas averaged the unproductive 

 tn i s in a plantation, before thinning, at one-third of the 

 whofe\ but it -reins to me that there will be greater 



