appendix.] WEST INDIES. 155 
I planted these seeds at about six inches distance, covering 
them with about one inch of earth. I had been previ¬ 
ously told, that the clove tree, when young, requires to be 
sheltered from the sun; but reflecting on the latitudes of 
Cayenne, and of the Moluccas, which are under the fourth 
and fifth degrees, the one north, the other south, and the 
latitude of Dominica, which is between the fifteenth and 
sixteenth degrees north, I knew that ten degrees would 
make a material difference in the climate, particularly on 
Montpellier estate, which is situated on an elevated situa¬ 
tion, and about three miles distant from the sea. I thought, 
that if I could rear those seeds without the assistance of 
any shade, they would, from their infancy, be inured to 
the sun and air, would be more hardy, and consequently, 
would bear transplanting with less risk and danger; but in 
this I was deceived. The mother of clove, on its first visi¬ 
ble vegetation, appears like a small strait red dart; when it 
comes to two inches high, two small red leaves are seen on 
its top; on the first appearance of these leaves, when hard¬ 
ly perceptible to the naked eye, I found, that on the sun 
shining with any degree of heat the plants drooped and 
perished; whereby many seeds were lost; I therefore cau¬ 
sed small frames to be erected over all the beds, about three 
feet high from the ground, and I spread on them plantain 
leaves, in order to shade the young plants: I kept supply¬ 
ing those leaves for near nine months; after which I suf¬ 
fered the leaves to decay gradually, that the sun might be 
admitted to the plants, as they acquired strength ; and in 
the space of twelve months, they were fit to be transplant¬ 
ed. Out of six thousand mother of cloves, I saved from 
fifteen to sixteen hundred trees, which I began to transplant 
in January 1794, in the open field, at sixteen feet distance. 
Ihey are growing very luxuriantly : 1 have lost but few, 
and none but such as were in places where the water col¬ 
lected. Ihey are now fifteen months old, from the day 
