Ill 
NUTMEGS AND MACE 
111 
was accentuated by the male trees not being manured, 
the Chinese thinking it was not worth while to manure 
them. But in trees in the Singapore Cardens, where 
both sexes were treated similarly, this drawn-up appear- 
ance was still conspicuous in most of the males. In 
Trinidad, according to Prestoe, males occur more 
frequently than females by from 10 to 15 per cent. 
In most cases where I have had the opportunity to 
observe in the Straits Settlements, I find the males 
in a considerable minority. 
In the plantation one male to from eight to ten 
female trees is sufficient for adequate fertilisation. 
The plants being unisexual, and it not being, so far 
as one can see, possible for the female flower to be 
fertilised by the aid of the wind, as happens in grasses 
and such plants, are no doubt fertilised by insects, but 
I have only seen a small flat beetle, and occasionally 
some small bees, visiting the flowers ; indeed, it is rare 
to find any insect at the flowers. Nevertheless, female 
trees widely distant from any males seem to produce 
ripe fruit, often in abundance, a thing which occurs also 
in many of the wild species of nutmeg and other uni- 
sexual trees. 
Planting . — The young nutmeg trees are planted at 
a distance of 26 to 30 ft. apart, either in lines or in the 
quincunx arrangement. In rocky or broken ground it 
is frequently impossible to plant them with the regularity 
of line which the planter loves, but so long as they are 
not too close to each other this is immaterial. The 
holes for planting should be about 4 ft. wide and 
3 ft. deep at least. Dr. Oxley recommends that they 
should be not less than 6 ft. across and 4 ft. deep. The 
depth and diameter of the hole depends on the richness 
or poverty of the soil. The poorer the soil the larger 
the hole. The hole is filled up with a mixture of leaf- 
mould, burnt earth, and old cow-dung, if procurable, 
well mixed together."^ Care must be taken not only to 
fill the hole, but to raise the mound above it for at least 
1 ft. , to allow for sinking and settling of the loose earth. 
