Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-10-24
FACTS ABOUT NUTMEGS.
Where and How They Are Raised
 and Prepared for Market.

Where and How They Are Raised
 and Prepared for Market.
 (nteresting Particulars Concerning One of
 the Most Highly Prized spicos-How
 Nature Fooled tho Greedy
 Merchants of Banda.
 An address on spices was delivered be- fore the Grocers' Association of Boston re- gently by W. D. Bennett. of New York, from which the Amerlcan Analyst con- denses the following interesting particulars concerning the nutmeg:
 Nutmegs grow on small trees resembling pear trees, cut down to about twenty feetin height. The flowers are very much like those of the lily of the valley; they are pale yellow and very fragrant. The leaves stand alternately on short foot-stalks; are oblong, pointed, entire bright green and somewhat glossy on their upper surface, whitish be- meath, and of an aromatic taste. The fruit, which appears on the tree mingled with the flowers, is round or oval, of the size of 9 small peach, smooth, at first pale green, but yellow when ripe, and marked with longi- tudinal furrow. The external covering, which is at first thick and feshy and abounds in an austere astringent, after ward becomes dry and leathery, and, sep arating into two valves from the apex, dis closes a scarlet net-like membrane, com monly called mace, closely investing thin brown shining shell, which contains the kernel or nutmeg. The nutmeg tree is native of the Moluccas and other neighboring islands, and abounds espe- cially in that small cluster distin- ,icha hu fha nf RaD6a yvhenco the chief supplies of rutmegs were long derived. But the plant is now culti- vated in Sumatra, Java, Singapore, Penang, Ceylon and other parts of tho East Indies, l and has been introduced into the isles of France, Bourbon. Cayenne and several of l tnt West India islands. A fine tree in Jamai- ca has over 1, 900 nutmegs on it yearly. The l tree begins to bear when ten years old, and goes on improving for 100 years. The fruit is gathered two or three times g year. 1 Three sorts of nutmegs are distinguished, namely, the male or barren, the royal, and the queen, the last of which is small and round. The nutmeg is propagated from 1 fresh seeds (nutmeg) and these vary in size and shape, just as apples and pears do when l raised from seeds. There can hardly be a more profitable crop than the nutmeg at present prices. The annual yield of a good tree of sixteen years' growth is about ten pounds, covering about 800 square feet sur | face, at an average of 40 cents per pound, glves value of produce per acre per an mum of over Is300, including mace. The fruit of the nutmeg takes nine months to mature, and 100 pounds of nutmeg produce l one pound of mace. A good nutmeg should be round large and heavy, of a drab or light brown color, and finely marbled in the cross section. Its virtues are extracted by alcohol and ether. Eighteen ounces of good sound nutmeg will yield four ounces of oil. The
 volatile oil is obtained by distillation with l water. By pressure with heat an oily mat ter is procured from the kernels, which
 becomes solid on cooling, and is commonly,
 though enormously. called mace. Nut | megs have been punctured and boiled in
 order to extract their essential oil, and the
 oritice afterward closed so carefully as not
 to be discoverable unless by breaking the
 kernel. The fraud may be detected by their
 ightness. The Dutch were formerly said
 to heat them in stove in order to deprive
 them of the power of germinating, and
 thus prevent the propagation of the tree
 The Dutch used to have all the nutmee
 trade, as they owned the Banda islands, an6
 conquered the other traders and destroyed
 the trees to keep the price up. They once
 burned over three piles of nutmegs, each o
 which was as large as church. Nature di(
 not sympathize with such meanness. The
 nutmeg pigeon, found in all India islands
 did for tae world what the Dutch had de
 termined should not be done-carried these
 nuts, which are their food, into all the sur
 rounding countries, trees grew again ant
 the world had the benefit. The practice O.
 limin nutmegs has been sadly abused; i is used principally for making slightly ant
 marketable those nutmegs which at ont : time would have been altogether rejected The long or wild nutmeg is distinguished
 from that just described by it's mucl greater length, the absence of the dark brown veins and it's comparatively feeble
 odor and disagreeable taste. It has beer
 called male, wild, or long nutmeg, the othe being designated as the female, or culti vated nutmeg. The concrete, or expressed
 oil of nutmeg, commonly called oil of mace , is obtained by bruising nutmegs, exposin! them in a bag to steam and then Compress ing them slightly between heated plates , liquid oil flows out which becomes solit , when it cools. Nutmegs are said to yiel,
 from ten to twelve per cent. of this oil. Tn LsI best is imported from the East Indies il stout jars. It is solid, soft, unctuous to tn touch, of Q yellowish or orange yellow color
 more or less mottled, with the odor an taste of nutmeg. An artificial preparation i. is sometimes made from genuine oil. It i made by mixing fatty matters, such as suet palm oil, wax, etc.,, adding some col
 bring substance, and giving flavor to tn l mixture by the volatile oil. Nut , meg unites with the medical properties o , the ordinary aromatics considerable mar cotic power. In the quantity of two o three drachms 1t has been known to pro , duce stupor and delirium; and dangerous if not fatal, consequences are said to hay l followed it's use in India.
 A Sample of Printers Greek,
 Among modern examples of verbal cur } osities of miscellaneous character is thi specimen of so-called "Printer's Creek qualnt acknowledgment of generous treat ment unexpectedly received from wedde pair by rural typographical artist an , editor: "We mako our most respectfr bow to the happy twain and m1 the oppol 1 tunitv fn return thanks for this most unl