174 THE CHEMISTEY OF ESSENTIAL OILS
the ideal for yielding heavy crops. Drought has a marked effect in
lessening the yield, while excessive spells of wet weather render the
plants liable to attacks of parasitic fungi. In the Banda Islands the
trees are shaded by canary-nut trees (Canarium edule), but in the
.Straits Settlements no shade-trees are planted.
" The seeds are usually planted in nursery beds of well-dug and
manured soil in rows from 12 to 18 ins. apart, at a depth of about 2-J
ins., with some form of shading, and frequent watering. The seeds
germinate in about a month or six weeks. They are planted out some
•six months later, when about 6 ins. high, at a distance of 26 to 33 ft.
apart, in holes which have been dug some 4 to 6 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep.
Some planters prefer germinating the seed in bamboo pots, as this faci-
litates their transport when they are big enough for planting out. The
sex of the plant is not known until it flowers, some seven or eight years
later. Male trees are usually exterminated with the exception of one
male to ten or twelve female trees, which is sufficient for pollination
purposes. Manuring is practised on the poor clay soils of the Malay
Peninsula, but in the rich ground of the Banda Islands this does not
appear to be necessary. The trees become productive when about eight
years old, but it may be earlier in the Straits Settlements, where the
whole life-history is shorter than in the Moluccas. They are at their
best when about thirty years old, and continue to fruit well for twenty
years more ; but trees over seventy years have been known to give good
crops. The fruits ripen in about six months from flowering. The fruit
may be allowed to fall, but it is more usual to gather it by hand. For
this purpose a long rod bearing a small basket, open at one side near
its apex, on which are two downward pointing prongs, is used to collect
the fruit in the Banda group. The nutmeg is caught between the
forked prongs, and as it is pulled off it falls into the basket. In the
Straits Settlements, where the tree is low, a hooked stick is used to
knock off the fruits. The operation of collecting nutmegs is shown in
our second photograph. The trees blossom and fruit throughout the
year, but it is customary to gather two crops a year, usually in May
and June, and again in August and September. The spring crop is
said to yield the best nuts. Only quite ripe fruits are collected. A
labourer in a full season can gather 1000 to 1500 nuts a day, and in the
Banda Islands two or three trees keep a man employed all day, while
in Malaya he may pluck from forty to fifty trees a day. In Grenada
the fruit is allowed to drop from the trees as it ripens. Good trees
should average from 1500 to 2000 nuts a year.
" The husk is usually stripped off on the spot by the collectors, and
the nuts forwarded to the drying-sheds. There the mace is carefully
removed either by hand or with the aid of a knife. It is dried in one
piece (' double-blade') or after separating into two halves (' single-
blade '), the former being preferred owing to its better appearance.
The mace after removal is flattened by hand or sometimes between
boards. In Banda, coolies tread upon it to flatten it, and it is then
dried in the sun in flat baskets or on mats or trays of bamboo, this pro-
cess taking from two to four days. The brilliant red colour changes to
a duller orange and finally to golden-yellow, while at the same time it
becomes horny and brittle. At nightfall the mace is placed in a drying-
shed to avoid wetting by dew. In rainy weather the drying is done by
artificial heat, usually over a smokeless fire of charcoal. The practice