Ill 
NUTMEGS AND MACE 
125 
May and J une, and again in August and September. In 
the Straits Settlements the July and August crop is the 
heaviest, though fruit can be obtained all the year. 
This coincides with the season for the cropping of fruit 
trees. Crawford says that three crops are recognised in 
the East Indies, one at the end of July and in August, 
which gives the best nuts ; the second in November, the 
heaviest cropping time ; and another at the end of 
March. Lumsdaine says that the great harvest in 
Sumatra is obtained in the period from September to 
December, and a smaller one from April to June. 
The fruiting seasons in Trinidad are shown in a 
table published by Mr. Hart in 1895. He gives a daily 
average of fruit from trees in the Botanic Gardens for 
five years, thus : — 
January . 
. 65-8 
July 
. 405-4 
February . 
. 111-2 
August 
. 405-8 . 
March 
. 224-6 
September 
. 304-2 
April 
. 374-2 
October . 
. 210-6 
May 
. 402-2 
November 
. 65-8 
June 
. 442-0 
December . 
. 55-6 
The steady rise 
from February to June and falling 
off from July and August to December is well marked. 
This is quite distinct from the East Indian two-cropping 
periods, and is probably due to climatic differences. 
Lumsdaine states that the trees yield most abun- 
dantly every second year. This is usually the case in 
fruit trees all over the East. A heavy crop one year is 
followed by a short crop the next, and vice versa. 
PESTS 
Phloeosomus cribratus, Blandford. — The most injuri- 
ous insect to the nutmeg tree that I have seen is a 
very small Scolytid beetle belonging to this species 
which I found in abundance destroying the trees in 
Penang and Province Wellesley. There seemed to be 
two species attacking the trees. The first one is a short 
cylindrical beetle, only in. in length, of a dark-brown 
