IV 
CLOVES 
189 
Our experiments have, however, shown that cloves must be 
exposed to the direct heat and light of the sun ; if dried in the 
shade they turn black. 
The glass-house has been the means of saving labour, as the 
cloves, once spread out in it, could be left to dry. Much 
time is lost, at a time when every available man is required 
for picking, under the present system of taking the mats in 
and out morning and evening, and in showery weather. At 
Marseilles this became most serious, as we had between 400 
and 500 mats to handle each time. 
The Clove Crop Generally. — The magnitude of the clove crop 
may be judged by the returns of November and December. 
In those months Pemba sent in more cloves than in any 
previous month of the years tabulated, while the total for the 
two islands for December, namely 121,858 fraslas, exceeds all 
previous returns. The Zanzibar crop was late, hence the total 
of 60,365 fraslas for the year is the lowest since 1890, though 
the report for December, namely 32,399 fraslas, is the highest 
on record for Zanzibar in one month. Still, a heavy loss has 
taken place upon the trees. The dry weather of December, 
the rainfall for which was the lowest on record, following upon 
an unusually dry year, caused the trees, especially in the districts 
where the crop was very late — Dunga, Kitumba, and the north 
end of the island — to shed starved and immature buds, and 
labour was diverted from picking to sweeping up the fallen 
cloves under the trees. A quantity has been gathered in this 
way, though a far greater quantity has been lost. Picking in 
these districts never really got into full swing. 
In the Machui district the crop was abundant and well 
forward, but the labour was totally inadequate to cope with it. 
The trees look as heavily laden now with ripening mother of 
cloves as they did in the beginning of the season with buds, 
and the proportion picked must be quite insignificant to that 
which was left. In the South Mwera country the crop was 
earlier and lighter, and was comparatively well gathered. 
Pemba seems to have suffered less from the effects of the 
drought than Zanzibar. The soil of Pemba, having more clay 
than ours, is more retentive of moisture, and therefore better 
able to resist the effects of drought. The Pemba trees, too, 
are older, and their roots will consequently have reached deeper 
levels for their food supply {Annual Report of the Agri- 
cultural Department of Zanzibar, 1899 ; Tropical Agriculturist, 
January 1, 1900, pp. 447, 517). 
