IV 
CLOVES 
167 
bamboo are often used in estates in which the nurseries 
are at some distance from the field. The plants can 
either be raised from seed in the basket or can be 
transferred to them and allowed to grow on, when they 
have attained the height of a few inches. The baskets 
are made by coolies at odd times, or during rain, when 
no work can be carried on in the field. When the clove 
tree is planted out it is not removed from the basket, 
but the whole thing is planted in the ground, where as 
the plant grows the basket decays away. These baskets 
are very portable, easy to make, and cheap. They do 
not interfere with the root growth, nor are they apt to 
retain the water and cause the plant to become water- 
logged if by chance it should be kept too long before it 
is planted out. 
The young plant is, of course, watered when planted 
and afterwards as long as may be considered necessary 
according to the dryness of the climate at the time, and 
till it has well settled into the ground and begun to 
push out fresh leaves. 
Manuring . — In most soils cloves require manuring 
during their growth, but in Zanzibar no manure is used 
other than the dead leaves lying about the estate, which 
are swept to the base of trees. In the Straits Settlements 
cow-dung is used if procurable, and the prawn-dust, as 
described under nutmegs, is commonly used. Mulching 
with cut grass is very beneficial to the young trees. 
Shading . — In Penang, the clove like the nutmeg is 
cultivated on the exposed hills without any shading at 
all. In Amboyna it is, according to Rumphius, grown 
with fruit trees or coco-nuts as partial shade. He con- 
sidered it a good plan to cultivate them under light 
shade when young, cutting out the shade trees as the 
clove trees grew. This method has much to recommend 
it, and is a way that works very well with many trees 
whose original habitat was the forest region. For most 
trees of this class, sudden exposure of the young plant 
to full sun does not favour its growth, and may kill 
it, or at least retard its development. Light shade, 
