Mr Luinsdaiiie an the Cultivation of Spices 
trees of the importation of 1798 at Moco Moco, are placed in 
soil of this description,, and although never manured, are in the 
highest state of luxuriance, and bear abundantly. Next to the 
alluvial deposit, virgin forest-lands claim pre-eminence, their 
surface being covered with a dark coloured mould, formed by 
the slow decay of falling leaves and mouldering trunks of trees; 
and next to these are to be ranked the open plains. Declivities 
are objectionable, from the risk of the precipitation of the mould 
and manure into the subjacent ravines, by the heavy torrents of 
rain that occasionally deluge the country. Above all, the plan- 
tations must be protected from the southerly and northerly 
winds, by a skirting of lofty trees ; and, if nature has not al- 
ready made this provision, no time should be lost in belting the 
grounds with a double row of the Cassuarina littorea and Cer- 
bera Manghas, which are well adapted for this purpose. If the 
plantation is extensive, subsidiary rows of these trees may be 
planted at convenient distances ; but no large trees whatever 
should be suffered to grow among the spice-trees, as they ex- 
clude the vivifying rays of the sun, and arrest the descent of 
the salutary night-dews, both of which are essential to the qua- 
lity and quantity of the produce, besides that they rob the soil 
of its fecundity, and intermingle their roots with those of the 
spice-trees. Extensive tracts of land are to be met with in the 
interior of the country, well adapted for the cultivation of the 
nutmeg and clove, and to these undoubted preference is due. 
In originating a nutmeg plantation, the first care of the culti- 
vator is to select ripe nuts, and to set them at the distance of a 
foot apart in a rich soil, merely covering them very lightly 
with mould. They are to be protected from the heat of the 
sun, occasionally weeded and watered in dry weather every other 
day. The seedlings may be expected to appear in from thirty 
to sixty days, and when four feet high, the healthiest and most 
luxuriant, having three or four verticels, are to be removed in 
the commencement of the rains to the plantation, previously 
cleared of trees and underwood, by burning and grubbing up 
their roots, and placed in holes dug for their reception at the 
distance of thirty feet from each other, screening them from the 
heat of the sun and violence of the winds. It is a matter of 
essential importance, that the ground be well opened, and its co- 
