CHAP. 
164 SPICES 
red mould peculiar to the locality, so as to reduce its 
tenacity. 
Soil . — The selection of the soil and the position of 
the ground for the young plant is a matter of great 
importance. The most suitable soil is a dark loam with 
a substratum of dark yellow earth mixed with gravel ; 
a clayey soil suits them well, and in Zanzibar a red 
clay soil is considered better than a lighter, more open 
soil. The finest trees were observed in Zanzibar to be 
growing on a red clay, or stiff dark red to a darker 
chocolate soil. In the Straits Settlements the black soil 
of the valleys, which overlies a stiffer clay, is suitable, 
but in Penang they are commonly grown on the same 
class of soil as the nutmegs. Some planters recommend 
a gravelly soil, but this must not be too hard or stony, 
and should have a good mixture of clay in it. Sandy 
soil is unsuitable, and still worse is wet, water-logged 
soil. Water at the roots is fatal to the plant. A 
number of trees were planted some thirty years ago in 
the Singapore Botanic Gardens in a locality of this 
nature. After growing slowly for many years, till they 
reached the height of about 12 or 14 ft., the greater 
number perished without flowering. Investigation 
showed that the roots of the trees had come to a water- 
bed, and, unable to grow further, had curled and bent 
in a remarkable way to avoid the water, but unable to 
get into dryer soil had decayed away, causing the death 
of the tree. In very stiff yellow clay, especially if 
exposed to the full sun, they rarely thrive, making but 
little growth and suffering from various pests. 
The clove, like the nutmeg, appears to be an insular 
plant. It does not thrive usually at any distance from 
the sea, and it is commonly said that it requires sea- air. 
It is very noticeable how the plant has practically 
only been successfully cultivated in islands of the sea, 
e.g. Amboyna, the Spice Islands, Penang, Dominica, 
and other West Indian islands, and the Mascarene 
Islands. 
In the matter of altitude, it requires and can grow 
