| Show NUTMEG plantations s A singapore sinca Sinea porfe porfi correspondent of the rochester union gives ives the follow in I 1 account of the nutmeg plant plantation ile he says the nutmeg plantation I 1 visited belong to a Chinar chinaman ryan by the name of and is is situated some four miles fron from the city it is one of the most beautiful and thoroughly tropical places I 1 have ever seen the place jis is by hedge rol row of bamboo neatly neat cut ul and within are large fields in which are a re planted P ant d cocoanut coco anut and nutmeg the latter field embraces nearly fifty acres and like I 1 be ibe other others the trees are in regular rows cros crossing sifi each other at right all ati angies angles cles gies and abol about thirty feet apart some are of ve very r I 1 large arge size and not lass less than thirty feet in beitt height like coffee the trees require great creat attention and nd thorough and ard irrigation and the ground must be kept free from grass glass or weed weede they are removed from the nursery the second year and for two years vears after must be kept covered ere 1 from the burning sun by mats inch are spread pr ead over them by bv means of four tour supports set in in the ground the roots are also mulched with coarse litter they chev commence bearing hearing four to five years from the tho th planting but the tree does not produce its full clop until it is eighteen teen years vears old the pro produce d tice of a tree is then worth five or six dollars a year one nutmeg per lay day from each tree is regarded as a profitable yield upon the tree before the husk opens the fruit does not look unlike the hickory nut before the heil shell bell drops they are fit to pick when the outer shell shelf opens so as to disclose be e mace which coders ers the inner shell that encloses the fruit and the tile trees are examined every mor morning throughout hout the year to see if any of the hie fruit is fit t ti pick when it is ready to gathen gather the mace is a most mosi brilliant crimson ionson cr and exceedingly pretty adler after it ito is plucked the outer shell sheil is thrown away then the mace is carefully taken oft flattened with the hand handland and spread cpr d on oil wooden trays to dry it is occasionally I turned over and the kept from it until thoroughly dry when it is put in bags bogs for market maket the nut is also placed on wooden or metal pans or and id kept in the sun until the he nut within will rattle about in the shell when the shell is broken the nut is ready to be sacked and sent to market it if the shell which covers the nutmeg is broken before before the fruit is dry it is ruined and great care is is exercised therefore in the ibe process of drying besides the nutmeg nv mv chinese enter entertainer ta in er derives quite a revenue from his cocoanut coco anut beetle nur nut and manz osteen orchard the is held in the highest repute of any fruit in the tropics and is iq grown in in greater perfection at singapore and than elsewhere I 1 mus rous co confess tess fess tow to what hatin batin in the opinion of my fellow traveler was regarded as wanting in in a just ajda appreciation of its qualities when ide I 1 declare it quite inferior to the better variety of our peaches or indeed to the or white do yenne pea peach ch |
