176 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
burnt, the roots being carefully dug out and burnt. 
The ground should be treated with lime, and trees 
should not be replanted there for some years. The 
disease, however, appears to be rare, and I have never 
come across another instance of it. 
Loranthi . — The mistletoes attack the clove tree as 
they do the nutmegs (which see), and in Penang I have 
seen also the parasite Cassyiha strangling the branches. 
It is a yellow, wiry, leafless plant, belonging to the 
order Laurineae, but having more of the appearance of 
a dodder. This plant only grows on the sea-shore, so 
that it is not of frequent occurrence in a clove estate, 
and its presence on a clove tree is evidence of gross 
neglect. 
The clove tree in damp spots, or where too closely 
planted, is very apt to be covered with mosses and 
hepatics, which grow on the branches as epiphytes. 
These, though not parasitic, as the mistletoes, but only 
growing on the outside of the bark, are not beneficial 
to the tree, but appear to be rather injurious, often 
interfering with the growth of the twigs and causing 
the death of the smaller branches. These mosses should 
be pulled off and the tree cleaned of all such epiphytic 
growths. 
CROPPING 
The clove tree commences to produce flower-buds 
in the fourth or fifth year after planting, in Penang 
and Zanzibar. If the soil is inferior it is said to take 
longer, from six to six and a half years. In the 
Moluccas from six to eight years is the period given. 
The buds are ready for gathering in August to December 
in Zanzibar, and about a month later, that is to say, from 
November to January, in the Straits Settlements. In 
the Moluccas the harvest takes place twice a year, 
namely in July and December. 
Just before the buds are produced there is a fresh 
flush of young leaves put forth, and soon after this the 
