5PICE9* 9 



In 180*, tin-re m re ouK 23 nearitur clove trees ia 

 the Company^ gardens, and in October of this ye«r 

 tii<'s« ij'ar I- i- v, s>ld Ibr the hilling sunt of nine 

 thousand BIS hundredund titty-six dollars. They cou- 

 ti.mrd (lien 6,10i) mit&ieg trees, 1,(120 dove trees and 

 seedlings! The wljole being .sold in lots, many 

 of the trr-s ucrc dug up "and transplanted toother 

 quartans *»f the Lsland and thus dispensed; — numbers 

 Were lust from mismanagement. Had the Govern- 

 ment persevered in the experiment, ihe result would 

 HO doubt have proved satisfactory, but it very natural* 

 lv datru i , reports of the botanical superintend- 

 ents when their success had proved so equivocal, and 

 the results so expensive. 



In 1S1'>. the total mmnVr of nutmeg trees on tli^ I - 

 land was about 13,000, several kwnlvette of uhieh 

 only were in hearing', und from stu b clove trees as 

 were th n bearing-, a supply of twenty thousand plants 

 was obtained. 



The sale of the Government plantations #ave a tem- 

 porary-stimulus to the private planter ; yet the conti- 

 nual iu Mo etei of the proper method of cultivating 

 spices — neces> n il) followed by lardy crops, — seems to 

 have at len-tli induce<i sttc.li an apathy regarding" 

 them'tlia^ they ran the risk of a sj>eedy extinction. 



It is to the late David Brown, Esqre. that the pub- 

 lic, (for that the public are interested in this case will, 

 it ia hoped, appear in the sequel) is mainly indebted 

 for the revival of so valuable a branch of Straits culti- 

 vation, lie stood alone in 1810 as a spice-planter on 

 an extensive scale; but instead of find tu# encourage- 

 ment in the sympathy of those around him, he was in- 

 considerately supposed by man) to be in search of an 

 Kl Dorado, ami no one ventured to follow his steps. 

 lJ[>hl and provident as was this attempt, its success 

 was !ou£ retarded by the obstacles winch always oj>- 



