104 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
Province Wellesley in the Malay Peninsula, whence are 
derived the finest nutmegs in the world. Here the 
trees grow on the steep exposed slopes of granite hills, 
the soil of which is the yellow loamy clay so character- 
istic of what are known as the laterite formations of 
the Malay Peninsula. The more friable the clay the 
better the plants seem to thrive. Dr. Oxley affirms 
that the deeper the tinge of iron in the soil the better 
it is for the full development of the tree. Bare clay 
slopes or sandy soils do not suit the plant at all. The 
rain-wash in such places, especially if it is impossible 
to grow shade trees to check this, is most injurious. 
The slopes of the Penang and Province Wellesley 
hills are rocky, with projecting boulders and masses of 
granite, and among these the trees do well. 
In Malacca, at Pringitt, there was formerly for many 
years an excellent little plantation which throve well 
and yielded good crops on a hard ferruginous gravel, 
or pebbles of clay iron-stone (laterite). 
In Bencoolen, Sumatra, Lumsdaine says that the 
soil of the plantation was generally of a red colour, 
with stony fragments or pebbles scattered through it ; 
the surface of the forest lands being of a chocolate 
colour. 
In Trinidad, virgin forest with rich soil is preferred,'^ 
but the soil need not necessarily be very rich, for the 
plant throve well in red-brick soil, the poorest in the 
district (Hart, Trinidad Bulletin). 
Alluvial flats are recommended by Lumsdaine, but 
in most cases these are too low-lying and wet. Wet 
or flooded ground is fatal to nutmegs, as is also exces- 
sively dry ground. 
Altitude . — The limits of successful cultivation in 
the West Indies are from sea-level to 1000 ft. eleva- 
tion. In the Straits Settlements it is seldom grown as 
low as sea-level, but is generally cultivated on hills 
from about 200 ft. to 2000 ft. above the sea. 
On the hill known as Bukit Mertajam, in Province 
Wellesley, where every suitable spot is covered with 
