IV 
CLOVES 
177 
buds begin to appear. They are green at first, then 
become yellowish with a pink tint, and finally dull blood- 
red, when they are fit to gather. As the buds are not 
all ripe at once, it is necessary to go over the trees twice 
or thrice during the harvest season. 
The buds are usually gathered by hand, hooked 
sticks being used to pull down the branches. In 
Amboyna they are partly gathered by hand and partly 
knocked off the branches with bamboos. As all parts of 
the trees are not accessible from the ground, step-ladders 
are used to enable the coolies to reach the buds. The 
branches are rather brittle and care has to be taken not 
to break them, as rough treatment may prevent their 
bearing well for some years. 
The buds are then spread out to dry on mats in the 
sun. In some places they are scalded with hot water 
before drying. This is not common, however, and is apt 
to spoil the appearance of the finished produce. 
In Amboyna they are first dried on a framework over 
a slow wood fire, which gives them a brown colour, and 
then are finally dried off in the sun, which produces a 
black colour. Some of the finest cloves I have seen 
were dried on zinc plates over a fire. These were pre- 
pared for an Exhibition at Penang, and were remarkably 
plump and well-coloured. 
In Zanzibar, after the cloves are gathered the slaves 
pick the clove buds from the stalks and spread them 
out to dry on mats in direct sunlight, taking them in 
at night to avoid their becoming wet with dew. The 
drying is continued for six or seven days, during which 
they lose about 50 per cent of their weight, or sometimes 
as much as 60 per cent. The Zanzibar cloves are drier 
than those of Pemba when shipped, but lose 8 per cent 
more in weight by shrinkage in transport to Europe. 
Mr. Thomas Burt urges, in the Shamha, that the 
cloves should be separated from the stalks, and the 
leaves, stalks, and waste bits thrown away at once, and 
that the cloves should not be left in piles or baskets 
over night, as if this is allowed they heat, much to their 
N 
