; the
ants will run along the pole and collect in immense quantities around
the bait, when, by a lighted faggot, they can be burned by thousands.
This repeated once or twice a day for a week or so, will soon rid the
tree of the invaders.

The number of men to be kept on an estate to preserve it in first-rate
order after it has come into bearing, must depend of course upon the
size of the plantation, but in general one man for every one hundred
trees will be found sufficient, provided there be some four or five
thousand trees. On a small scale the proportion must be greater.

The nutmeg planter is under the necessity of keeping up nurseries
throughout the whole of his operations for the replacement of bad
plants and redundant males. Of the latter ten per cent. seems to be
about the best proportion to keep, but I would have completely
dioecious trees. No person can boast to get a plantation completely
filled up and in perfect order much sooner than fifteen years. Of the
first batch planted, not more than one-half will turn out perfect
females, for I do not take into account monoecious trees, which I have
already condemned. The tree shows flower about the seventh year, but
the longer it is before doing so, the better and stronger will it be.
I cannot refrain from a smile when a sanguine planter informs me with
exultation that he has obtained a nut from a tree only three or four
years planted out; so much the worse for his chance of success, too
great precocity being incompatible with strength and longevity.

The best trees do not show flower before the ninth year, and one such
is worth a score of the others. This will be evident when it is stated
that I have seen several trees yield more than 10,000 nuts each in one
year, whereas I do not believe that there is a plantation in the
Straits' that averages 1,000 from every tree. This very great
disparity of bearing shows plainly that the cultivation of the plant
is not yet thoroughly understood, or greater uniformity would prevail,
and I think it clearly enough points out that a higher degree of
cultivation would meet its reward.

The tree has not been introduced into the Straits' sufficiently long
to determine its longevity, but those introduced and planted in the
beginning of the present century, as yet show no symptoms of decay.
The experiment of grafting the trees, which at first view presents so
many advantages, both in securing the finest quality of nut and the
cert