When a nutmeg plantation is to be started, great care must be taken to select a good, rich, virgin soil, formed of a deep loam with good drainage, as the plants will not thrive on a sandy soil. The rainfall should be at least from sixty to seventy inches per annum. Although the nutmeg plant is essentially a lowland plant, flourishing from two hundred to four hundred feet above sea level, and not proving successful at a higher elevation than fifteen hundred feet, it must be kept free from stagnant water about its roots, for this would surely kill it. Virgin forest lands, with a soil covered with a layer of leaf mold or rotten wood, is well adapted to the cultivation of the plant, and a hot, moist climate is requisite. Plenty of shade is necessary to protect the trees from the prevailing winds which would scatter the flowers and uproot the trees, as the roots take but a slender hold in the ground. Large trees should not be allowed to grow with spice trees, as they would exclude the vivifying rays of the sun and arrest the fall of the night dews, which are necessary for quantity as well as quality of the nutmegs. Large trees would also rob the soil of its richness. A double row of cassuarina littorea and cerbera manghas planted at the windward side of the plantations will afford ample shade and protection from the winds, and trees with these advantages will give good crops. Plants are raised from the largest, round, fresh nuts before they will rattle in the shell, care being taken that they are not more than two months old. They may be planted and staked in the field intended for the plantation, about eight feet apart. If they are kept well watered and manured, such planting is preferred to sowing in a nursery. Plants raised in a nursery are usually sown in bottomless baskets about one inch below the surface in a place well sheltered from the winds. The nurseries must be kept free from weeds and well watered every day in dry weather, especially when the seeds are planted in bamboo baskets, for should the earth become hard and dry the nuts will not germinate. If the land has been well tilled the seedlings will appear in about sixty days. When they are from three to four feet high they may be transplanted to a permanent situation. This should be done during wet weather and the trees must be kept well manured. They must be watered on alternate days and protected from the sun. They must be cultivated for five years. Care must be taken not to strike the roots of the tree in cultivating, for if the tap root is broken the tree is sure to die. When any roots become exposed they should be covered with leaf mold or with dirt mixed with cow manure. When well started, the trees should be thinned out, leaving them from twenty to thirty feet apart, according to the richness of the soil; the richer the soil the wider the space. Before the transplanting of the seedlings from the nursery, holes are first dug and left open for