Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-03-29
FACTS ABOUT NUTMEGS.
Where and How They Are Raised
end Prepared for Market.
Interesting Particulars Concerning One ~
the Most Highly Priced Spices-How
Nature Fooled the Greedy
Merchants of Banda.

nature EOOlou tn0 Greedy
Merchants Of Banda.
An address on spices was delivered be.
fore the Grocers' Association Of Boston re-
Gently by W. ID. Bennett, Of New York,
from which the American Analyst con.
denses the following interesting particulars
concerning the nutmeg:
Eutmegs grow on small trees resembling
pear trees, cut down to about twenty feet in
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 a
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 fleshy 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 netlike membrane, COM
monty called mace, closely investing o 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-
guished by the name Of Banda, whence
the chief supplies of nutmegs were
long derived. But the plant is now culti-
waited in Sumatra, Java, Singapore, Penang,
Ceylon and other parts of the East Indies,
and has been introduced into the isles of
France, Bourbon, Cayenne and several of
the West India islands. Atine tree in Jamai-
ca has over 1900 nutmegs on it yearly. The
tree begins to bear when ten years old, and
goes on improving for 100 years. The fruit
is gathered two or three times q year.
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
fresh seeds (nutmeg) and these vary in size
and shape, just as apples and pears do when
raised from seeds. There can hardly be
more profitable crop than the nutmeg at
present prices. The annual yield of good
tree of sixteen years growth is about ten
pounds, covering about 500 square feet sur
face, at an average of 40 cents per pound,
gives value of produce per acre per an
mum Of over $500, including mace. The
fruit of the nutmeg takes nine months to
one pound of mace. A good nutmeg should
be round, large and heavy, of 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
water. By pressure with heat an oily mat
ter is procured from the kernels, which
becomes solid on cooling, and is commonly,
though erroneously, 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 discoverabie unless by breaking the
kernel. The fraud may be detected by their
lightness. The Dutch were formerly said
to heat them in stove in order to deprive
them Of the power of terminating, and
thus prevent the propagation OF the tree.
The Dutch used to have all the nutmeg
trade, as they owned the Banda islands, and
conquered the other traders and destroyed
the trees to keep the price up. They once
burned over three piles Of nutmegs, each Of
which was as large as church. Nature did
not sympathize with such meanness. The
nutmeg pigeon, found in all India islands,
did for t 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 and
the world had the benefit. The practice of
lining nutmegs has been sadly abused; 1t
is used principally for making slightly and
marketable those nutmegs which at one
time would have been altogether rejected.
The long or wild nutmeg is distinguished
from that just described by its much
greater length, the absence Of the dark
brown veins and its comparatively feeble
odor and disagreeable taste. 1t has been
called male, wild, or long nutmeg, the other
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, exposing
them in bag TO steam and then compress
ing them slightly between heated plates. A
liquid oil flows out which becomes solid
when 1t cools. Nutmegs are said TO yield
from ten to twelve per cent. Of this oil. The
best is imported from the East Indies in
stout jars. 1t is solid, soft, unctuous to the
touch, of a yellowish or orange yellow color,
more or less mottled, with the odor and
taste of nutmeg. An artificial preparation
is sometimes made from genuine oil. 1t is
made by mixing fatty matters, such as suet,
palm oil, wax, ETC., adding some col
oring substance, and giving flavor to the
mixture by the volatile oil. Nut
meg unites with the medical properties of
the ordinary aromatics considerable mar
cotic power. In the quantity of two or
three drachms 1t has been known to pro-
duce stupor and delirium; and dangerous,
il not fatal, consequences are said 70 have
fol ia M in