78 
MYRISTICA MOSCHATA. 
jealousy of the inhabitants of that colony, the two countries being 
then at war with each other. The three trees which were originally 
imported have borne fruit for many years, and have attained the 
height of twenty feet, with a trunk eight or nine feet in diameter. 
It does not, however, appear that the culture of the nutmeg suc- 
ceeds so well in the West as in the East Indies. Mr. Lockhart, who 
has the charge of the plants introduced into the Island of Trinidad, 
by his Excellency Sir Ralph Woodford, observes in a letter to me, 
that the plants flourish best in the rainy season ; even when mode- 
rate showers fall requiring constantly artificial watering, although a 
soil saturated with moisture is injurious. 
*' In the Moluccas, the gathering of the fruit takes place at three 
periods of the year : in July and August, when the nutmegs are 
most abundant, but the mace is thinner than in the smaller fruits, 
which are gathered during November, the second time of collecting ; 
the third, however, takes place in the month of March, or the be- 
ginning of April, when the nuts, as well as the mace, are in the 
greatest perfection, their number being then not so great, and the 
season being dry. The outer pulpy coat is removed, and afterwards 
the mace with a knife. The nuts are placed over a slow fire, 
when the shell becomes very brittle, and the seeds or nutmegs drop 
out; these are then soaked in sea water and impregnated with lime, 
a process which answers the double purpose of securing the seeds 
from the attack of insects and of destroying their vegetating pro- 
perty ; and it also prevents the volatilization of the aroma. The 
mace is simply dried in the sun, and then sprinkled with salt water, 
after which it is fit for exportation." * 
We are told by J. Lumsdaine, Esq.f that at Bencoolen they are 
simply rubbed over with dry lime ; after which they are cleaned and 
packed up in casks and chests, smoked, and covered within with a 
coating of lime and water. 
Qualities and Chemical PROPERTiES.—Nutmegs have a 
pleasant fragrant smell and a warm aromatic taste ; when chewed 
they are friable and almost dissolve in the mouth. They are easily 
cut with a knife, but not very pulverulent, owing to the large propor- 
tion of fixed oil they contain, which is the active matter of the nut- 
* Curtis's Botan. Mag. N. S. vol. i. 
t See his report on the Cultivation of Spices at Bencoolen, &c. Edin. Phil. Journ. 
vol. vii, p, 127. 
