DISEASES OP THE NUTMEG TREE. 679 
another, may be traced to the proper application of the recorded 
experience of past ages as well as the enlightened present, to the 
circumstances under which the planter is placed ; but here it is 
different, for all is novelty with us, there are no records of the past 
to guide us, while the recorded experience and science of the 
west is little else than a dead letter. All that we have to guide us 
is the personal experience of each, in all cases dearly bought. Is 
there a planter of ten years standing who, on a review of the 
past, will not acknowledge that if he then knew what he does now, 
one half his expences might have been saved ? I would from this 
time make your Journal, Mr Editor, a record of each planter— 
when time and inclination will allow him to aid in this most useful 
task. All have not the inclination nor time to write an essay on any 
particular subject, but all who direct their attention to one particu¬ 
lar object, can at least answer a few questions if better informed 
than the interrogator, while he who imparts his knowledge and 
experience on one point may require to be informed in turn on 
another. Allow me to break the subject by calling the attention of 
your readers to a Nutmeg plantation, and to one point connected 
with it,—the diseases which attack the trees and fruit. 
The first disease in importance might be called the Nutmeg 
canker, from its resemblance to the canker which attacks the Pear 
at home, but it still more resembles the “ Lepra Nigricans” 
which attacks the natives of the East, and which daily can be seen 
by the curious on this subject, in the miserable shed set apart for 
Chinese paupers. This canker of the Nutmeg attacks the fruit, 
fruit stalk, and branches. When the fruit is attacked it appears dark 
brown over nearly the whole surface, with deep fissures which pierce 
the skin to the depth of an eighth of an inch, and in those parts 
where the fissures are, the colour inclines to a brownish black. 
These fissures run in all manner of ways, crossing one another like 
wrinkles in the palm of the hand. Where these fissures are, the 
skin of the fruit is dry when cut, and presents the brown appear¬ 
ance of the outside for some depth. These parts of the fruit which 
to the naked eye are merely discoloured, when examined by a 
powerful stanhope lens are proved to be rough and elevated 
above the natural skin, as if some insect had crawled over it, broken 
the cuticle and caused an exudation of the juice of the fruit. On 
examining a part, a little darker in colour, incipient fissures are 
seen—but which penetrate the cuticle to a very slight extent. 
These fissures are seen on the flower stalk and the bark of the 
branches and stem, which are rough and wrinkled, shewing that the 
whole cuticular structure of the tree is affected. The moment 
the flower drops and exposes the young fruit, on it can be seen a 
slight trace of the disease, which increases with its growth, the 
brown appearance extending and the fissures deepening, until the fruit 
prematurely opens, displaying the mace, wdiite in most cases, and 
the nut fully formed, or before that stage arrives the fruit drops off, 
A 
