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NUTMEGS AND MACE 
121 
to be remembered that in cutting off these parasites the 
branch on which one is growing should be cut off below 
the point of attachment of the parasite, as it thrusts 
its roots downwards in the branch, and merely breaking 
off the branches of the Loranthus is not sufficient to kill 
it. Nutmegs are less liable to the invasion of epiphytic 
plants, such as mosses and lichens, than cloves, but when 
these appear it is advisable to pull them off. 
Grafting . — Grafting to improve the production of 
the fruits and to make certain of having many female 
trees has often been suggested and tried by planters for 
many years. It does not, however, seem to have ever 
repaid the planter for his expense and trouble in the 
operation. 
Dr. Oxley describes how he grafted several plants 
by approach, and writing three years later says, that 
though the plants are looking well and growing, they 
have thrown out their branches in a straggling, irregular 
manner, having no leaders, and consequently they cannot 
develop their branches in the regular verticils necessary 
for the perfect formation of the tree. Without these the 
trees must ever be small and stunted, and consequently 
incapable of producing any large quantity of fruit. 
Hart, who also tried grafting in order to produce a 
larger supply of female trees by grafting branches of 
female trees on male ones, found it a long and ex- 
pensive business, and states that though grafted plants 
fruit earlier they do not last as long. He says that 
while seedling nutmegs cost 6 cents in Trinidad, owing 
to the expense and labour entailed grafted plants cannot 
be sold under a dollar. 
Much the same statements are made by others who 
have tried grafting, that is to say, they find it is not 
worth the cost. ^ 
In Grenada, in order to obviate the difficulty of 
having too many males and too few females, it is advised 
to grow the trees until the fifth year, when the sex 
can be determined, and then to remove the unnecessary 
males. As a rule, however, the greater proportion of 
