epices. 27 



from seed or mother-clove-i procured accidentally ai 

 Martinieo and that be expected them to bear in 1799. 

 What became of this and the Cayenne plantation does 

 not appear; yet surely had they been found profitable 

 Speculations we should not afterwards, with tin; appli- 

 ances which the West Indies afforded, have heard of 

 such a thing- as a Dutch monopoh of cloves. 



A few nutmeg trees have been seen growing 1 in a 

 deep valles in the Mauritius; but the price of labor 

 and devastating hurricanes art against the extension of 

 spice cultivation there, even should soil and climate be 

 really favorable; which, however, has not been shewn. 



If die account which appeared about a year and a half 

 auro in a Liverpool paper may be credited, an attempt 

 has beta made to cultivate the nutmeg at Trinidad ouau 

 extensive scale, and no doubt a belter site for such an 

 experiment could not have been chosen, since that is- 

 land is beyond the tract of the hurricanes. But* even 

 should the nutmeg thrive there, the cast of production 

 will, it is believer), be very heavy. 



The hire of a labourer there cannot be reckoned un- 

 der fifteen Spanish dollars a mouth, ami uiav perliaps 

 much exceed that rate : for, on one occasion au endea- 

 vour nas made, which failed, t 1 induce Chinese to jro 

 there ; and we know these people would hardly ivork 

 for less at such a distance from tbeif country. There 

 arc a few nutmeg trees cultivated in gardens at Brazil, 

 but hitherto merely as exotics: the planters there stem 

 HOW to be almost exclusively I*mt ou supplanting the 

 staple of the Celestial Empire, tea — by lea of their 

 own raising. 



The reduced prices at which spites l.ave tefc* occa- 

 sionally sold durjng Ityeyear* have undoubtedly increa- 

 sed Uie consumption ; but the cultivation of them is 

 to t expensi ve a .-peculation to admit of continued low 

 rales and it may !>e r ue*tioued wLether they could (wve 



