CLOVES. 
[Eugenia caryophyllata Thunberg.) 
DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER, 
Northwestern University School of Pharmacy. 
Biron— A lemon. 
L,ang— Stuck with cloves. 
— Shakespeare, Love's Labor Lost, V. 2. 
CLOVES are among our favorite 
spices, even more widely known 
and more generally used than 
ginger. They are the immature 
fruit and flower-buds of a beautiful aro- 
matic evergreen tree of the tropics. 
This tree reaches a height of from thirty 
to forty feet. The branches are nearly 
horizontal, quite smooth, of a yellow- 
ish grey coloration, decreasing grad- 
ually in length from base to the apex 
of the tree, thus forming a pyramid. 
The leaves are opposite, entire, smooth, 
and of a beautiful green color. The 
flowers are borne upon short stalks, 
usually three in number, which extend 
from the apex of short branches. The 
calyx is about half an inch long, chang- 
ing from whitish to greenish, and 
finally to crimson. The entire calyx 
is rich in oil glands. The petals are 
four in number, pink in color, and drop 
off very readily. The stamens are very 
numerous. All parts of the plant are aro- 
matic, the immature flowers most of all. 
The clove-tree was native in the 
Moluccas, or Clove Islands, and the 
southern Philippines. We are informed 
that in 1524 the Portuguese took pos- 
session ot these islands and controlled 
the clove market. About 1600 the 
D itch drove out the Portuguese and 
willfully destroyed all native and other 
clove-trees not under Dutch protection. 
The plan of the Dutch was to prevent 
the establishment of clove plantations 
outside of their own dominions, but in 
spite of their great watchfulness other 
nations secured seeds and young plants 
and spread the cultivation of this val- 
uable spice very rapidly. Now cloves 
are extensively cultivated in Sumatra, 
the Moluccas, West Indies, Penang, 
Mauritius, Bourbon, Amboyne, Guiana f 
Brazil, and Zanzibar — in fact through- 
out the tropical world. Zanzibar is 
said to supply most of the cloves of 
the market. 
The cultivation of cloves in Zanzi- 
bar is conducted somewhat as follows: 
The seeds of the plant are soaked in 
water for two or three days or until 
germination begins, whereupon they 
are planted in shaded beds about six 
inches apart, usually two seeds to- 
gether to insure against failure. The 
young germinating plants are shaded 
by frameworks of sticks covered with 
grass or leaves. This mat is sprinkled 
with water every morning and evening. 
The young plants are kept in these 
covered beds for nine months or one 
year, after which they are gradually 
hardened by removing the mat from 
time to time, and finally left in the 
open entirely for a few months, after 
which they are ready for transplanting. 
Transplanting must be done care- 
fully, so as not to injure the roots. 
The plant is dug up by a special hoe- 
like tool, lifted up in the hand with as 
much soil as possible, placed upon 
crossed strips of banana fibres, which 
are taken up by the ends and wrapped 
and tied about the plant. The plant 
is now carried to its new locality, 
placed in a hole in the soil, the earth 
filled in about it, and finally the banana 
strips are cut and drawn out. 
The transplanted clove plants are 
now carefully tended and watered 
for about one year, but they are not 
shaded as during the first year of their 
existence. Usually many of the trans- 
planted plants die, which makes re- 
planting necessary. This great mor- 
tality, it is believed by some, might be 
•reduced very materially by shading 
the recently transplanted clove-trees 
for a time. 
The clove tree may attain an age of 
from 60 to 70 years and some have been 
noted which were 90 years old and 
over. The average life of the planta- 
tion clove-trees is, however, perhaps 
not more than 20 years. The trees be- 
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