ee,
growing to the height of about twenty feet. The trunk is straight, and
rises four or five feet before it throws out branches. The bark is
smooth, thin, of a grey color, and the wood of the trunk too hard for
ordinary cabinet work.

The leaves are opposite, smooth, narrow, pointed, of a rupous color
above, and green on the under side. They have a very aromatic odor
when bruised between the fingers. The flowers produced in branched
peduncles, at the extremity of the bough, are of a delicate peach
color. The elongated calyx, forming the seed vessel, first changes to
yellow, and, when ripe, red, which is from October to December, and in
this state it is fit to gather. If left for a few weeks longer on the
trees, they expand, and become what are termed "mother cloves," fit
only for seed or for candying. The ground under the tree is first
swept clean, or else a mat or cloth is spread. The nearest clusters
are taken off with the hand, and the more distant by the aid of
crooked sticks. Great care should be taken not to injure the tree, as
it would prevent future bearing.

The cloves are then prepared for shipment by smoking them on hurdles
near a slow wood fire, to give them a brown color, after which they
are further dried in the sun. They may then be cut off from the flower
branches with the nails, and will be found to be purple colored
within, and fit to be baled for the European market. In some places
they are scalded in hot water before being smoked, but this is not
common. The tree may be propagated either from layers or seed. Layers
will root in five or six months if kept moist.

A strong dark loam, a gravelly, sandy, or clayey soil, but one not
retentive of moisture, seems that best suited for its successful
culture.

It does not thrive well near the sea, nor in the higher mountains, the
spray of the sea and the cold being found injurious. The plants at
first require the shade of other trees, such as the mango, coco-nut,
&c. Although generally a hardy plant, it suffers from excessive
drought. They should be planted about twenty feet apart. In its native
country the tree begins to yield fruit in the sixth year, but a crop
can seldom be looked for in other quarters under eight years. It is
very long lived, sometimes attaining the age of 130 years.

There appears, according to Mr. Crawfurd, to be five varieties of the
clove, viz.--the ordinary cultivated clove; a kind called the female
clove by the natives, whic