SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NUTMEG AND ITS CULTIVATION. 047 
next proceeding is to lay out and dig holes about 20 or 30 feet a- 
part, and as the quincunx order has many advantages, it is the form 
I would recommend for adoption. The holes should be at least 0 feet 
in diameter and about 4 feet deep, and when refilled the surface soil 
is to he used and not that which is taken out of the hole. Each hole 
should he filled up about one foot higher than the surrounding 
ground, to allow for the settling of the soil and sinking of the tree, 
which planted even at this height will in a few years he found below 
the level. Over each hole thus filled up a shed, closed on two sides 
east and west, and proportioned to the size of the plant, is to he 
erected. The best substance for this purpose is I think the Attap;— 
lalang grass and bamboo, occasionally used, have their disadvantages, 
the former attracts white ants, the latter when commencing to decay, 
breeds a black blight that is soon transferred to the plant, injuring 
it most materially. It is not a bad plan to leave an open space in the 
centre of the top of each shed about 12 inches wide, by which the 
young plant can obtain the benefit of the dew and gentle rains, which 
more than compensates for the few rays of sun that can only fall 
upon it whilst that body is vertical. After the sheds have been com¬ 
pleted, each hole should have added to it a couple of baskets of well 
decomposed manure, and an equal quantity of burned earth, when 
all is ready for the reception of the plant which, having been set out, 
if the weather be dry, will require watering for 10 days or a fort¬ 
night after, in fact until it takes the soil. As I have mentioned burn¬ 
ed earth both for the use of the nursery as well as final transplant¬ 
ing, I may as well here explain what I mean by that substance, this 
earth when well prepared is quite black, friable and pungent of 
smell, containing potass and abundant small portions of charcoal. It 
is eminently useful in all kinds of cultivation, rendering friable the 
stiff clay and affording carbonic acid to the plants. The Chinese with 
good reason place much dependence upon it as a manure, and most 
of them know very well how to make it, but unfortunately it can¬ 
not be made in every locality as it requires a very large quantity of 
firewood to prepare it properly, and is only really good when made 
of the peaty substance that forms the top surface of all the bottoms 
between the hills that spread over nearly the whole island of Singa¬ 
pore. This manure may be useless from two causes, either if over 
burned when it turns red and is effete, or if not sufficiently burned, 
when it will be filled with chips and portions of unburned wood and 
become a source of attraction to the white ants, by no means desira- 
