3io 
Clove  Cultivation. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1893. 
then  carried  to  its  destination,  the  strips  of  fibre  effectually  keeping 
the  earth  in  position.  Before  planting,  the  pieces  of  fibre  passing 
beneath  are  cut  at  each  corner,  and  the  plant  finally  placed  in  the 
hole  prepared  for  it  and  the  earth  heaped  round  ;  the  four  ends  of 
the  fibre  left  at  the  sides  are  then  removed  one  by  one,  the  bottom 
portion  being  cut  through, 'enabling  this  to  be  done  with  ease. 
After  Treatment. — If  the  weather  is  hot,  or  in  the  event  of 
drought,  the  young  plant  is  watered  in  the  evening  daily,  and  water- 
ing is  continued  as  required  until  the  plant  attains  the  height  of  1 8 
inches,  or,  roughly  speaking,  during  the  space  of  one  year.  The 
young  plants  are  not  shaded  in  any  way  after  planting.  There 
appears  to  be  great  mortality  amongst  young  plants,  and  a  good 
deal  of  supplying  is  required,  and  a  nursery  is  deemed  indispen- 
sable for  five  years  after  a  plantation  is  first  opened  up.  (Probably 
were  the  plants  shaded  until  established,  their  level  raised,  and  less 
frequently  watered,  and  better  hardened  before  planting  out,  this 
excessive  mortality  would  be  checked.)  No  ground  or  other  culti- 
vation is  permitted  amongst  the  cloves,  but  slaves  everywhere 
appear  free  to  cultivate  their  own  plots  and  gardens  amongst  the 
trees,  and  I  also  observed  cassava  growing  in  a  clearing  of  young 
clove  trees ;  and  the  general  run  of  small  "  shambas  "  consists  of 
cloves,  cocoanuts,  mangoes  and  other  fruit  trees,  all  planted  indis- 
criminately, and  close  together.  No  pruning  whatever  appears  to 
be  done.  No  manuring  either,  apart  from  fallen  leaves,  and  this 
in  the  more  favored  localities  where  the  rows  of  clove  trees  shade 
the  ground  must  add  greatly  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  accumu- 
lation of  leaves  being  considerable,  and  the  flat  nature  of  the 
ground  preventing  wash. 
Age  of  Trees. — There  are  some  trees  now  growing  on  the  island 
which  are  said  to  be  nearly  90  years  of  age,  but  the  average  length 
of  life  of  the  clove  tree  in  Zanzibar  appears  to  be  from  60  years  to 
70  years,  and  I  have  this  on  the  authority  of  Mahomed-bin-Saif 
Drumiki,  an  elderly  Arab  of  much  experience,  and  who  has  been 
for  over  20  years  in  charge  of  the  Sultan's  plantation  at  "  Indo."  Such 
terrible  devastation  resulted  from  the  great  hurricane  of  1872,  when 
nearly  all  the  clove  plantations  on  the  island  were  destroyed,  that 
the  average  age  of  the  trees  now  growing  may  be  put  down  as 
below  20  years,  and  the  age  of  the  trees  in  the  Sultan's  plantation, 
the  largest  in  the  island,  is  from  16  years  to  17  years.    The  appear- 
