Ill 
NUTMEGS AND MACE 
109 
of bamboo pots lies in the facility with which the 
young plants can be transported to any part of the 
estate with a minimum of risk. I never think, however, 
that plants grow as well in bamboo pots as they do in 
a nursery bed. Conical baskets of split rattan are 
better for this kind of work. 
Sowing seed at stake is occasionally practised, but 
is hardly to be recommended. If it is found more 
convenient to do so, two seeds should be put in each 
hole, and after germination the weaker plant should be 
removed. 
Sexes of the Plant . — The nutmeg tree is normally 
monoecious, that is to say, is either male, bearing only 
male flowers, or female, bearing only female ones, and 
it is stated by some that the males never become 
females, nor the females males. It is, however, often 
stated that male trees have been known to produce at 
first a few, and later all female flowers in from two to 
six years. 
There are, however, also trees which produce both 
kinds of flowers at the same time, and these are known, 
according to Eumphius, as Boy-trees (Pala boi) in 
Amboyna. The origin of this name is unknown. 
Dr. Oxley seems to have considered that these 
hermaphrodite trees are inferior, as they have a tendency 
to produce double nuts, and the nuts themselves are 
inferior in quality and quantity. 
Janse, in the Annals of the Buitenzorg Gardens, 
1904, in treating of double and triple nuts, says that 
the hermaphrodite trees bear more or fewer nuts each 
year, that a large percentage of these have double or 
triple nuts, and that such nuts are not produced at all 
by female trees. Dr. Oxley states that the female 
flowers of weakly trees (by which he seems to mean 
hermaphrodite trees) are entirely yellow instead of 
being of a greenish colour at the base, and are im- 
perfectly urceolate, approaching in form more nearly to 
the staminiferous flowers of the male trees. 
I cannot say that I have noticed this, nor do I find 
