656 SOME ACCOUNT OF TI1E NUTMEG AND ITS CULTIVATION. 
lion. The only caution I would give is that planters ought to take 
care and not dry their nuts by too great a heat as they shrivel and 
lose their full and marketable appearance; for this purpose I think 
it desirable to keep the nuts, when first collected, for eight or ten 
days out of the drying house, exposing them at first to an hour or 
so of morning sun, and increasing the exposure daily until they 
shake in the shell; the nuts ought never to be cracked until requir¬ 
ed for exportation or they will be attacked and destroyed by a small 
weavel like insect, the larva: of which is deposited in the ovule and, 
becoming the perfect insect, eats its way out, leaving the nut bored 
through and through and worthless as a marketable commodity. Lim¬ 
ing the nuts prevents this to a certain extent, but limed nuts are 
not those best liked in the English market, whereas they are pre¬ 
ferred in that state in the United States. When the nuts are to be 
limed it is simply necessary to have them well rubbed over between 
the hands with powdered lime. I am given to understand that they 
are steeped in a mixture of lime and water for several weeks bj the 
Dutch mode of preparation. This no doubt will preserve them, but 
doubtless it must also have a prejudicial effect on the flavor of the 
spice. After the nuts are thoroughly dried, which requires from six 
■weeks to two months smoking, they cannot be too soon sent to market. 
But it is otherwise with the mace, that commodity when fresh not 
being in esteem in the London market, seeing that they desire it of 
a golden color which it only assumes after a few months, whereas 
at first when fresh it is blood red ; now red blades are looked upon 
with suspicion, and are highly injurious to the sale of the article. 
This is one of those peculiar prejudices of John Bull which some¬ 
what impugns his wisdom, but it must be attended to, as John is 
ever ready to pay for his caprice; therefore those who provide for 
him have no right to complain although they may smile. 
Through the kindness of the Resident Councillor I have been fur¬ 
nished with the following correspondence and statistics which shew 
that the nutmeg tree was sent from Bencoolen to Singapore the lat¬ 
ter end of 1819, so that twenty nine years have elapsed since its first 
introduction. Some of the plants alluded to in Sir Stamford Raffles 5 
letter were set out at the foot of Government Hill in neither a bad 
soil nor locality, and several of them are at present and have been for 
, the last ten years fine fruitful trees. Table No. 1 shews that 315 
trees in this garden yielded last year 190,426 nuts or at the average 
of 604 for each tree, but of the 315 bearing trees mentioned in the 
