The times., 1899-07-23

per Cloves, Cinnamon, and Other
Aromatic Treasures u Ideal Spots
for Raising the Coffee Berry.
Trinidad de Cuba, July / 1S99.-Among
the new industries which are being intro
duced into our recently acquired posses
sions, the very strangest thing that has
come under my observation is spice farm
ing. 1t has at least the charm OF novelty
among a multitude OF American enter
prises. and the certainty of not being ove--
done-at least during the next century or
two. In this case variety is indeed ''the
spice of life Think of dwelling amid
perpetual odors of Araby the blest, every
lightest zephyr redolent as a freshly filled
rose jarl The fact that most of the spicey
growths are extremely slow in maturing
will be an effectual hindrance TO over-pro-
duction. The spice planter must have
some other source of revenue while wait
ing several years for his groves to reach
the point of profitable bearing; or, like the
pioneer in the business above referred to,
he may set out his trees IN squares and
rows, growing quicker crops between them
The ideal spot for this queer kind of farm
ing is the valley of Trinidad, midway
along the southern coast OF Cuba, where
absolute perfection of climate is found
continuous northern June, hardly varying
ten degrees in ten years. The scsnery is
beautiful beyond compare, and the health
fulness of the locality unsurpassed. The
Central Railway completed nearly to Cas-
Ida (the port of Trinidad), affords ample
shipping facilities; and as yet the land
speculator, who has made the ravages of
peace almost as destructive as the ravages
of war in some portions of Cuba, has not
put up the price of the wonderfully fertile
soil
The nutmeg tree, for example, which
fiourishes wild in the Molucc archipelago,
Bengal, Singapore, but not in the Philip
pines, and was brought by the monks at
some long distant day into Brazil, the
Guianas, and West Indies-grows to greater
perfection in Cuba, under cultivation, than
ever in its native home. 1t is a splendid
evergreen, towering from fifty TO seventy
feet high. Unfortunately, however, the
nutmeg tree is too slow in growing to
suit the AngloSaxon mood but is in bet
ter accord with the temperament of the
race which loves the proverb: He who
plants an olive, plants for his children S
children" Grown from the seed, it be-
gins to bear fruit in nine or ten years, but
does not reach maturity under quarter
OF century. AT present not enough grow
ing trees could be found in all Cuba TO
supply one good-sized plantation, and to
import them from the other side of the
world is both risky and expensive. In view
of the demand that is sure to come, would
it not be worth while TO at once start
nurseries for nutmeg and other spice trees
Most people are aware that the nut
meg of commerce is the kernel OF seed
inside a fruit which resembles small
pear. When ripe, nature splits the fruit
in two, exposing a crimson arillus, sur
rounding a single seed. In the Banda ISL
ands, whence most of our supply comes,
the fruit is packed into small oval baskets
at the end of a bamboo, to prevent bruis-
ing. The pericarp is first removed; then
the arillus (Which is the mace" of COM
merce) is carefully stripped off and dried.
Then the seeds, enclosing the valuable
kernel, are put into drying house and
exposed to gentle heat for about two
months, being turned every second day.
The shells are then broken open with a
wooden mallet and the nutmegs picked out
and sorted, the inferior ones being re-
served for expressing into the so-called oil
of mace. Then the dried nutmegs are rub
bed over with lime, or dipped into bath
of lime milk, in order TO spoil them for
generation, so that buyers may not plant
them and thus steal the trade. The
thrifty Dutch, who control the Molucca
nutmeg business, are responsible for this
little dodge, but it is a waste of time, since
1t has been demonstrated that the drying
process and even a weeks exposure to
the sun, destroys the fertility OF the ker-
mel. The Dutch have known it many years,
but since for centuries buyers have been
accustomed to the whitish exterior OF nut
megs, and look with suspicion upon those
without 1t, they continue the unnecessary
lime process. In some parts Of the East
Indies the entire fruit, with the nutmeg
kernel inside, is boiled in sugar and ex-
ported as a rare and costly sweetmeat
Nutmeg butter" or oil of mace, is made
by grinding the refuse nutmegs to a pow
der, enclosing 1t in a bag, and steaming
1t a long time over a caldron then COM
pressing 1t while still warm between pow
erful wedges. The brown fluid which flows
out solidihes in time and is the butter
in question, Of great value as a commercial
product The kernels yield about a quar-
ter of their weight in this substance
Some idea of the possible extent of this
industry may be gained from the New York
shipping reports. which show that upward
of 100000 pounds Of nutmegs are brought
into the United States every year, and
So 600 pounds of mace. Estimating 100
nutmegs to the pound-which every house
wife knows retail at a penny apiece-you
may figure out the sum total at leisure.
The Glove tree, another tall and stately
evergreen, is easily grown in the West
Indies, and especially In the tropical low
lands of southern Cuba, where it was in
troduced by the monks, along with the
nutmeg, some centuries ago. Its native
home is the eastern coast of Africa, Java
Sumatra. Zanzibar, and neighboring ISL
ands of the Indian archipelago, where the
Dutch monopoliZe its cultivation. From
the earliest days of the Christian era the
Glove has been one of the principal Ori-
entail spices which made such a lucrative
Western trade that nations have fought for
its possession. The Portuguese held 1t
for a hundred years until early in the
seventeenth century, when they were ex
PEELED by the Dutch from Moluccas. The
French introduced the Glove tree into
Maurtius in 1870. and then into Zanzibar
and French Guiana on this hemisphere:
and the English have experimental largely
with 1t In their Indian possessions The
Glove of commerce-named clou by the
French because of its resemblance to a
Nails not the fruit of the tree. as is
commonly supposed, but the unexpanded
flower bud, borne in clusters at the ends
., ~