CHAP. 
200 SPICES 
much alike, but experienced planters can distinguish 
them apart. 
“ It is held by botanists,” he says, “ that the so-called male 
trees are not necessary to the fructifying of the bloom of the 
bearing trees, and that they are simply barren trees of no use 
to the grower, and except where they are useful as shade trees 
are better out of the way. Many growers, however, find it 
difficult to reconcile this theory with actual experience, holding 
that when the male trees are cut out the yield of the other 
trees is not so great.” 
The pimento is certainly not a unisexual plant like 
the nutmeg. Being allied to the clove, it has much 
the same structure of the flower. It is not likely, 
therefore, that the flowers are, strictly speaking, male 
and female respectively, but possibly the so-called male 
flowers possess some defect in the stamens which 
prevents their fertilisation. Plants in the Singapore 
Botanic Gardens, though flowering freely, never set a 
single fruit, on account of some such defect. It should 
not be difficult to discover the cause of this production 
of “ male trees in the West Indies. 
CROPPING 
The berries grow in clusters, and are in the best 
condition for spice when they are full but not ripe, in 
July and August, while still green. When fully ripe 
they are black, glossy, sweet, and spicy. The unripe 
berry is more spicy, and somewhat peppery in taste. 
They are about the size of a black currant. They are 
gathered by lads, who climb the trees and pull down 
the branches with a hooked stick, breaking off the 
twigs which bear the branches of fruits. The boughs 
are thrown down, and women and children gather them 
up, pick off the berries into baskets, throwing away the 
stems and leaves. Pipe berries are kept separate from 
green ones. This breaking of the branches does not 
injure the trees, but, on the contrary, acts as pruning, 
which is necessary in order to make the trees crop 
regularly. A good picker can fill a 70 lb. bag a day. 
