158 HISTORY OF THE [book v. 
for that purpose, and left for two nights and a day: the 
heat was rather strong, and the rainy weather having pre¬ 
vented me from going to town, hindered me from getting a 
thermometer to ascertain the degree of heat of the stove. 
At the end of the second night, I took the cloves from the 
stove, and completed the desiccation by the sun; which 
operation, when perfected, gave the cloves a brownish hue, 
a good pungent taste, but not so strong a flavour, as those 
that had been desiccated by the sun only. 
The fourth desiccation was nevertheless done in the same 
way ; but, having got a thermometer, I observed this dif¬ 
ference : After putting my green cloves in the stove, I took 
care that the heat was more moderate than that of the third 
trial ; I left the cloves in the stove for only one night, and 
half a dav, until they were faded, and had acquired a brown 
colour. I hung my thermometer in the stove, and found 
the heat to vary from 120 to 130 degrees: this done I took 
out the thermometer, and let the heat decrease to the usual 
degree of my estate, which was on that day, seventy six de¬ 
grees; after this, from one o’clock to two, I exposed the 
thermometer to the sun; the day was fair; and the thermo¬ 
meter getting up to 128 degrees this shewed the heat of the 
stove to be nearly equal to that of the sun. After taking 
the cloves out of the stove the rest of the desiccation was 
done by the sun. I found these cloves when perfectly dry 
to be of a brownish hue, not so strong in taste as those de¬ 
siccated by the sun only, but stronger than those that had 
been, for two nights and a day, exposed in the stove to a, 
greater heat than these last. Having set aside the first cu¬ 
ring by the shade, I have numbered the cloves that under¬ 
went the three last desiccations, No. 1,2, and 3: the per¬ 
sons, to whose judgment these specimens will be submit¬ 
ted, will decide on the best quality amongst the three sorts; 
all of which are far superior in their strength, and pungen- 
