The only attempt at cultivation is the cutting close with long knives the ferns and grass below the trees. There does not appear to be that tendency to the grovrth of weeds and underwood that exists so strongly in the Straits, to the great detriment of the planters. No manure or artificial stimulus is used ; the plants deposited abundantly by the pigeons are merely taken up and stuck in wherever a vacancy occurs, therefore no regularity is observed. In some places, clumps of trees are growing together not more than 10-12 ft. apart, all growing without exception under the shade ef the camel (rmtarium commune). The nutmeg cannot be said to be cultivated in Banda : it is merely collected. It has occupied its present position there from time immemorial.
With regard to the rences that exist between the Banda trees and those of the Straits, the first remarkable feature is their respective heights. The tree of the Straits is a mere shrub com pared with tbat of Banda, where 50-60 ft. is no uncommon size. It would appear that the shading is overdene in the Straits, at the same time, owing to the strong winds that constantly prevail, the tree needs shelter of some description. The tree as a general rule does not hear fruit before the 8th or 9th year, and is not considered in its prime until about 25 years old ; it is said to bear well up to 60 years, and even longer. The male tree is much shorter lived than the frnit-bearing one. The parkineers in the Bandas do not estimate the proportion of males above 2 per cent.; if this be the case, there are far too great a number in the Straits plantations. With respect to the propor tion of males and females yielded by a given number of planted seeds, the parkineers say they never get more than 30 per cent. of males, and seldom so many ; this again is far better than Straits planters can boast of. The Banda fruit hangs upon longer and more slender stalks than the Straits, the skin is more free from all blemish, moro thin relatively to the fruit, and of more uniform proportion. The black spot or gangrene of the outer covering exists among the Banda plantations, but in so slight a degree that but little account is taken of it. It is caused by an inseot depositing ite ham in the huak ; they feed on the saccharine matter of the miter covering, until it bursts, when they make their way into the soft nut itself, and become the small weevil so well known to all planters. The Banda nuts frequently split before maturity, as in the Straits ; this is produced by similar causes,---cold, damp weather, and sudden changes of tem perature. The Banda trees bear more or less every month throughout the year, but there are four months in which the crop is four or flve times its usual quantity, these are May, June, September, and October. The Banda method of collecting the fruit is far better them that adopted in the
Straits. They uso neatly made oval baskets of bamboo, open for half their length on the upper side, with a couple of prongs projecting from the top ; these seize tho fruit-stalk, and, by a gentle pull, the nut falls into the basket, which iB capable of containing three or four nutmegs. Thus the maee is not spoiled or bruised by falling on the ground, and there is no searching about the grass for the escaped nut.
The Banda manner of breaking them when dried is also superior. This is done by spreading them on a sort of drumhead, and striking them with flat pieces of board. Several are cracked at each stroke, swept off, and resupplied as fast by a, man standing alongside. One MRD in this way will break more nuts without injury than half a dozen men after the Straits fashion. Women and ehildren are employed in the collection of the produce, which ie brought in twice a day. The mace is removed by scraping with large knives from the base, and is probably not a little injured by the operation. The plan of removing it by the baud from the apex is decidedly preferable, as the inter lacings of the mace ure thus freed, end the blade is better expanded. In Banda, tho mace is dried in the sun, and delivered monthly at the Government godowns ; the nuts are smoked, iu the usual Straits fashion, by slow wood fires, for three months, and delivered quarterly. The mace, when reoeived, is divided into three qualities, and packed in casks containing about 280 lb.; in packing, very slight pressure is used, such as a man standing in the cask and treading down the spice as it is filled in. The nuts, when broken, are packed in wooden bins, filled up with lime and water to the consietency of mortar, where they are allowed to remain for three tnonths, the bins being care fully closed and marked. At the expiration of three months, they are taken out, sorted into three qualities, and packed in casks similar to those used for the mace ; these casks are all made of the best Java teak. The refuse nuts are ground down to a fine powder, and converted into " nutmeg butter," by steaming them over large caldrons for 5 or 6 hours, and compressing the warm mass, peeked in bags, between powerful wedges, when a brownish-coloured fluid runs out. This on cooling beoomes of a sapoutteeous appearance and consistence, and is the " nutmeg-butter " or " mace-oil " of cotnmerce. It ie further described under Vegetable Fixed Oils, pp. 1396-7.