128 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
beetles having destroyed the subterranean portion, soon 
dies. The small perforations in the bark (where the adult 
beetles had escaped) should have shown the planters 
that small beetles of the Scolytid group were at work in 
the tree, and the only question then was, were the 
beetles destroying the living tree or only attacking dead 
portions. This point is settled by finding the beetles 
in the still-living bark, and especially in the twigs of 
the living branches. 
There was, unfortunately, no entomologist in the 
colony at that time, or the cause of the plague would 
soon have been detected and steps taken to remedy it. 
As it was, to quote Collingwood again : — 
The planters abandoned the plantations in disgust in many 
cases where there were still healthy trees, and the land reverted 
to Government. In other cases, where expensive bungalows 
had been built upon the estate, they were sold for a small pro- 
portion of the sums expended in building them, since they were, 
as a rule, too far from town to command any competition, 
and ceased to be conveniently situated. Many planters, both 
English and Chinese, whose whole estates were invested in 
nutmeg plantations, were thus reduced to ruin and absolutely 
penniless, and distress and disappointment everywhere pre- 
vailed. 
Many of the trees which were abandoned, and round 
which a thick jungle undergrowth had sprung up, re- 
covered, which Collingwood attributed to their being no 
longer manured, for it seems that at the time an idea 
arose in the minds of the planters that the disease was 
caused by over-manuring the plants, and they even went 
so far as to condemn any manuring of the plants at all 
as fatal to the tree. But this recovery was what might 
have been expected. The beetles apparently dislike 
shade, as may be seen from the fact that they were 
found in the sunniest side of the trees in greatest 
abundance, and furthermore, the isolation of the remain- 
ing trees by secondary scrub prevented the beetles from 
finding their way from one tree to another. There are 
still in old gardens in Singapore a few of the old nutmeg 
trees which seem to be the relics of the plantations of 
