Nutmeg - History - Grenada British Empire Sir Joseph Banks et al.
Richard Allicock
We should point out that Banks was the son of a Lincolnshire Doctor and a Member of Parliament. Banks was brought up as the son of a rich man and went to Oxford in 1760 where he showed considerable talent for the natural sciences. He inherited his father's fortune in 1764 and put it to good use philanthropically helping others to do research and to help him to collect plant and insect specimens, and even supported anthropological research around the world. Nor was he himself untravelled. In 1766 he made his first trip to Newfoundland and Labrador bringing back a fine collection of plants and insects. He was also on Captain Cook's First Voyage (25th Aug.1768 - 12th June, 1770) to observe the Transit of Venus, on which much was observed and collected for Botanical and Horticultural purposes. In 1772 Banks went to Iceland with some of the same assistants he took on Cook's voyage, and returned by the Hebrides and Staffa. This was another scientific expedition. In 1781 he was ma!
de a Baronet, in 1795 he received the Order of the Bath, in 1797 he was admitted to the Privy Council
But in regard to Banks and the West Indies we have to locate his efforts and the efforts of others within the context of the History of Science and Agriculture, Botany and Horticulture in the Age of Enlightenment. No less a person than Sir Francis Bacon credited as the founder of the modern scientific method had proposed that nature should be tortured to reveal its secrets. Quite sadistic language to be sure, but scientific ends were preferable to the torture of people who revolted from economic and political hardship. To what ends should such a torturing of nature be put? Nothing less than the improvement and betterment of the needs of mankind. This was the union of science and practice in a fundamental sense long before Marx and the Marxists and socialist utopias, or Communist Utopias.
The efforts of Sir Joseph Banks and others before him, contemporaneous with him, and others after him, can be situated in the the Age of Enlightenment, generally taken to be from 1715-1799. In typical British pragmatic fashion however, this Age of Enlightenment was expressed as the "Age of Improvement." Here again, I use the term British deliberately, because it was our unsung heroes the Scots who took the lead in such Improvement Ideology and Practice. Nor is that surprising seeing the limitations on the Scots in terms of land quantity and land quality, and property ownership. Whereas the English had lots of land to play around with, the Scots had far less arable land, and the little that they had, had to be improved to yield more and more and better and better crops.
Meanwhile the English ever since the Norman invasion had to concentrate on Military and Naval defence, and to be able to project power across the channel to France. This is why Britain, mainly England, developed their Army and Navy whether it was in Naval Architecture or consantly changing its milirary technology to outpace changes in Military and Naval technology on the Continent. Self-defence and the projection of power determined English economic and political development, while attention to economics in its widest sense determined Scottish development. Hence it is no surprise that it was a Scotsman who wrote the foundation work of modern economics, namely Adam Smith and his "Wealth of Nations"; or that it was a Scotsman who set up the Bank of England; or that we find Scotsmen floating companies for colonisation and trade in the West Indies with the Scotland company and the Darien Company. The Scots also set the Improvement practical philosophy in train and this caught on!
in England with a gusto by means not of the State, but through Clubs or Societies based on the Landed and Commercial (mercantilist) Interests.
The Society that did the most in England, before and in co-operation with Sir Joseph Banks, was the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce, founded in 1754. Its predecessor was the short-lived the Anti-Gallican Society, founded in 1745, so named for being expressly anti-French, to France, its products and it culture. This was formed in 1745 "to promote British Manufactures, to extend the commerce of England, to discourage the introduction of French modes and oppose the importation of French comoditiies". Simialr mercantilist sentiments were sounded by the Society of Arts (the shortened title of the one above) in its first Volume of its Transactions in 1783, proposing to develop commodities within Britain and the Empire wherever they could to benefit Britain and the Empire, in terms of manufactures and agricultural commodities. These commodities had to be imported at great expense from foreign nations, so substitutoion with Colonial Products would be!
nefit British commerce and "Navigation" (meaning shipping). It was a programme of import substitution expected to benefit both Britain and the Colonies.
Banks had joined the Society of Arts in 1761. but as early as 1757, Banks was being praised for his researches on vegetables. By 1778, Sir Joseph Banks was President of the Royal Society and connected to Kew Gardens and with connections to the British Board of Agriculture. It is these two agencies that obscure the role of the Society of Arts which frequently made recommendations to Banks and the latter to the Board. In the case of the the Board and the promotion of the cultivation of new species, Scotsmen were not found lacking, in the persons of Sinclair a President of the Board before Lord Sommerville, and Lord Bute the King's First Minister..
But to get back to the Society of Arts, it was the first to offer premiums or prizes for the cultivation of desired species any-where in the empire. In 1758 the Society offered premiums/prizes for the cultivation of useful plants that can be grown in the then British Colonies of Georgia and the Carolinas. This set the precedent for a whole series of Imperial Prizes. It was the Society that encouraged the establishment of a Botanical Gardens in the Carolinas between 1758 and 1761, which in turn set the precedent for the establishment of other Botanical Gardens in the Empire. It was the Society of Arts which offered a premium/prize for the transplantation of bread-fruit from Tahiti to the West Indies; of cochineal insects to Jamaica from Spanish dominions; for growing hemp within the empire to meet the needs for ropes etc. in the British Navy.
The very establishment of the Botanical Gardens in St. Vincent was owed to a premium/prize offered by the Society of Arts in 1762. The Society of Arts offered rewards to "any one who would cultivate a spot in the WEST INIDIES, in which plants, useful in medicine and profitable as articles of commerce might be propagated." The St. Vincent Botanical Gardens later became the center of Sir Joseph Banks' world-wide net-work for the transplantation. In 1763, the Society suggested that tea from China which was paid for with good money, might be grown in West Florida. The Society also advocated the growing of Sago in Georgia using techniques brought back from China. The Society also advocated the production of Silk in the colonies..
Sir Joseph Banks joined the Society of Arts in 1761, and was instrumental to the effort to transplant bread-fruit to the West Indies. After receiving a letter from the Governor of St. Vincent on the subject of Bread-fruit, Banks persuaded the Society of Arts to offer a prize for the transplantation of Bread-fruit to the West Indies in 1777. The prize was won by Capt. Bligh in 1793 after a voyage that was prompted and organised by Sir Joseph Banks.
Banks became the President of the Royal Society, 1778, and had been around the world with Captain Cook on the first Voyage. While he was prepared to go on the second, and all was packed and arranged, Banks could not go. But it should be noted that on one of these trips, it may have been the first, (See Diaries of Capt. Cook) groves of a species of Nutmeg, (not Myristica), grown by natives in the New Hebrides, was examined. We can assume that specimens were also taken, as this was the purpose of the trip. Banks had even personally paid for his entourage of Botanists, and illustrators, to draw the species which they felt would perish on the journey.
Even as President of the Royal Society Banks continued to prompt the Society of Arts, for by this time the Royal Society was concerned with the promotion of Science and "useful knowledge" and the Society with the "applied arts or what would later be called "technology." Banks prompted the Society of Arts to offer a prize for the introduction of Senna to Antigua in 1783. Banks also served as a liason between the Society of Arts and the outposts of Empire. The Society of Arts of Barbados was instituted with the help of Banks. The Society of Arts of Barbados wrote to Banks in 1781 asking for assistance to promote the aims of their Society which had been founded for the purpose of "discerning the usefull Qualities of the native Productions, Animal, vegetable & Fossil of Barnados. The Society of Arts of Barbados was given a gift of the volumes of the "Transactions" of the Society of Arts. Banks also conveyed to the Society of Arts the thanks of Dr. Thomas Dancer, Superintendant !
of the Jamaica Botanical Gardens, for an award in 1791. Banks stated that the award would encourage Dancer's exertions in regard to the cultivation of valuable spices and drugs committed to Dancer's care.
In connection with the Board of Agriculture Sir Joseph Banks was advising the British East India Company about their station on St. Helena, outlining a programme of improvement that included new crops, gardens and enclosores. In 1787, to George Yonge, British Minister of War 1782-1794, who was responsible for St. Vincent, a military garrison at the time, Banks wrote advocating the transplantation of crops from the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta to the Botanical Gardens of St. Vincent. In the same year, in relation to Australia, Banks wrote to Governor Phillip, who was at the time in Rio de Janeiro Brazil collecting plants that Banks specified would be useful for the growth of the Colony of Australia. In 1799, Banks was asking the Board of Agriculture to help in the sending of seeds from Sumatra to the West Indies. It seems that the relationship was reciprocal between the Presidents of the Board and Banks. In 1799 Banks offered his opinons to the Lord Sommerville Pres. of the!
Board on the dry mountain rice from Serinagur, received from the East India Company, as well as his opinons on the benefits of the introduction of succulent vegetables to the agricultural interest of Britain.
Another President of the Board Lord Carrington in 1801, referred seeds to Banks, that had been presented by the East India Company. After examination Banks responded with suggestions as to which colonies in the empire would benefit most from the transplantation of the seeds. In 1803, Carrington again was seeking Banks' advice on which Botanical specimens recently received from Sumatra, would prove Desiderata in the West Indies. In 1807, Banks was pondering whah crops should be introduced to New Foundland. Banks was also instrumental to improvements in Britain but those we can leave alone. However we should say that Banks himself did practical work in regards to improving his own estates in Lincolnshire and Derbyshire. And what about Nutmegs? In 1794, Banks was offering to pay for the translation of a manuscript written by a Dutchman on Nutmeg cultivation.
I must thank Neil and John Weiss for keeping the Nutmeg thread going until I could get back to it. In the meanwhile I was hoping to hear from Kew, (but have not), or David Watson on whether the crediting of Sir Joseph Banks with the introduction of the Nutmeg to Grenada in 1784 was in Dr. Groome's book. The words on the websites are identical and indicates some written source. I was also hoping that Edward Crawford might have been able to penetrate the Banks correspondence, or at least the index, to find any reference to Nutmegs and Grenada in 1784. Meanwhile Neil has brought forward some more information on the journey of the real Nutmeg Myrstica Officinalis from Cayenne via Trinidad to St. Vincent 1801 -1809, and mentioned the Society of Arts. John Weiss recently cautioned us on the fallibility of memoirs.
However we have already established a time-line for the cultivation of Nutmeg in Grenada and thoroughly disproved any claim that Louis de La Grenade was the first successful cultivator of Nutmeg on Grenada. It is even stated on the La Grenade Foods website that he planted Nutmegs in 1773, but failed.
So until we hear from either Kew, David Watson and Edward Crawford, I will give the last words to Joseph Banks. " .. it is by a Long Series of Experiments alone that the adoption of a new custom in agriculture can be established."
Source for much of the above:
"Joseph Banks and the English Enlightenment: useful knowledge and polite culture" pp.196-207. By Dr. John Gascoigne, Cambridge University Press. 1994
christopher codrington
I read with fascination your posting on Banks and nutmeg
Banks was such a dynamic element in the planter economy and it is a pleasure
to read definitive information on his life and activities
None of us, studying genealogy or Carib history can reach a sense of the
time and place without knowing something of his influence on the times
Thanks for a great posting
Chriscod
C.M. Codrington("american version # 1952)
Editor: Carib GenWeb "Historic Antigua and Barbuda" web-site
Co-Administrator: Carri...@rootsweb.com
Member: Barbados Museum Historical Society,
Museum of Antigua and Barbuda Historical and Archaeological Society.
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Allicock [mailto:ric...@idirect.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 2:40 AM
To: CARIB...@rootsweb.com
Subject: Nutmeg - History - Grenada British Empire Sir Joseph Banks et al.
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David Watson
>I was hoping to hear.... [from] David Watson on whether the crediting of
>Sir Joseph Banks with the introduction of the Nutmeg to Grenada in
>1784 was in Dr. Groome's book
No, Banks wasn't credited by Groome. I think Groome would have if he had had
any evidence - in his small way he was a Banks of Grenada, and I think they
shared the same alma mater, and they certainly shared the same obsession
with natural history.
I am wondering what this has to do with genealogy, but it seems to have
sparked an interest. I hope whoever is "in charge" will bear with us.
Nutmegs are so important to Grenada - like oil to Saudi Arabia.
I've read a lot over the years about nutmeg agriculture, and I think we're
dealing with three things - why is everything in threes?
- the general desperate desire, for science and profit, to grow spices.
People who did this in the beginning, couldn't match the expertise of the
Dutch. Lots of trials and lots of failures. It is actually quite tricky to
grow nutmegs, certainly in commercial quantities; that's hardly news to any
farmer. So we have an "introductory period" when plants went into the ground
and generally failed.
- then, in Grenada, some managers go to Penang to assist with sugar
production, and they learn to cultivate nutmeg, they learn some secrets.
They bring back the nutmegs and the secrets and experiment.
- lots of failures again, but they persevere and have a factor to help,
Thomson Hankey (that's the name of a company,) whose families have a produce
relationship with Grenada. I think we're now into the 1860s.
- luck now plays a part, as does clever agricultural techniques. Some
pestilence in Indonesia, a good factor (Thomson Hankey,) smart planters (I'm
sure you are right, Richard, they were Scottish,) and away you go. You can
hardy believe your luck.
That seems to have been four points, oh well.
In 1955 hurricane Janet destroyed 80% of Grenada's nutmegs. But they bounced
right back, planting new trees and using the opportunity to improve the
planting techniques. Also, the marketing system of cooperatives in Grenada
has served all growers, large and small, over the years.
How many of you on this list are interested in this esoteric discussion?
David Watson
christopher codrington
On a strictly technical basis, I am "in charge" although I can barely type
at the moment. As you know, I am a strict proponent of history before
genealogy.....therefore all historical digressions are welcome. If we didn't
have such a fine potential staff in that quarter on carib-L I would have to
go out and recruit some....but lucky me, I need not bother myself with such
difficulties....I merely have to stir the pot
Cod
C.M. Codrington("american version # 1952)
Editor: Carib GenWeb "Historic Antigua and Barbuda" web-site
Co-Administrator: Carri...@rootsweb.com
Member: Barbados Museum Historical Society,
Museum of Antigua and Barbuda Historical and Archaeological Society.
-----Original Message-----
From: David Watson [mailto:family...@utoronto.ca]
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 12:05 PM
To: CARIB...@rootsweb.com
Subject: Nutmeg - History - Grenada British Empire Sir Joseph Banks et al.
>Richard Allicock wrote
David Watson
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Richard Allicock
Thanks for the kind words of appreciation.
Richard
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Richard Allicock
Thanks for replying on the Groome/Banks question of 1784. I think I might
have a source if Edward Crawford is not able to enlighten us on the
question.
Thanks also for further info. on nutmeg cultivation and history, and to
Chris for giving the O.K on a continuation. I had hoped for it to end on the
Banks 1784 question, but I am glad that we can continue.
I have some questions of my own. Since I have never seen a nutmeg tree, much
more a grove of them, I wonder what could have caused such difficulties in
the Caribbean when seeds or seedlings were procured?
And some of the questions I have are these: How does the male trees
fertilize the female trees? Is it by wind-blown pollenation or by insects?
If by wind, do the male trees have to be planted in a particular spot in
relation to the females, or just upwind of the females? If by insects, what
kind?
Can one identify male trees from female trees, and differentiate male and
female seeds and seedlings?
Does the fruit require ingestion by an animal to break-down the outer fruity
part, and partially break-down the outer-surface of the seed, before it can
be germinated?
Do the fruits have to fall and decompose in the shade of the parent tree,
and take root and germinate in the shade, or does it have to be propagated
by animals passing the seeds out of their gastro-intestinal tract elswhere
to give the seedlings a better chance for survival, (which they would not
have in competing with many other seeds), or in the shade of the parents?
Is brazing by a forest fire required to burn off the remants of fruit or
part of the outer-surface of the seeds, before germination can begin?
Do the trees have to planted in valleys, on the side of hills or between
other species for shade?
What kind of soil is required, acidic, neutral, alkaline, clay or loam?
What kind of irrigation is required?
I hope some-one on the list can answer some or all of these questions.
Thanks.
Richard.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Watson" <family...@utoronto.ca>
To: <CARIB...@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 9:05 AM
Subject: Nutmeg - History - Grenada British Empire Sir Joseph Banks et al.
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cecilia
grow nutmeg
Some of the links didn't work, and I took excerpts from the cached
versions.
http://www.kambing.com.au/mala.htm
"Nutmeg trees grow best in hot, humid tropical conditions. ..... When
they are young, they need protection from the sun and wind. "
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropical/msg0512331317555.html
" ... my wife and I had alot of seeds and cuttings of diferent things
to bring back...... About four months later my wife pulled out a
purse from the closet that she hadn't used since Grenada and felt
around inside and found behind the lining a plastic bag with black
mushy stuff and some hard round things in it. When she opened it there
were several nutmegs germinating! That is the only time we got them to
grow. On the nutmeg plantations the trees are planted so close
together that very little light gets through to the ground yet the
ground is full of germinating seeds. That and humidity must be the
secret. "
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/spices/cinnamon/nutmeg3.htm
"The nutmeg tree has a rounded top. Its persistent leaves have an
attractive shiny green top, while underneath the colour tends towards
a greyish-green. They are oval, lanceolate and about 10 cm long,
resembling the leaves of a rhododendron.
Amidst this foliage grow bunches of little pale yellow bell flowers.
The male flowers differ from the female, but both have a pleasant
scent. The only way of determining whether a tree is male or female is
by its flowers. A male tree can fertilize 10 female trees though there
exist, as with a few other species of trees, some bisexual elements.
The round fruit looks like an apricot or a peach of a pale yellowish
colour streaked with red and green. Once it reaches maturity, it
splits open into two white-fleshed halves to reveal a somewhat ovoid,
bright scarlet nut.
Growing Nutmeg
Nutmeg is grown in valleys from sea level to an altitude of 500 m.
It is propagated by means of seeds. Its germination period is 6 weeks
and the seedling is then transplanted into the ground.
....
Harvest
....
Inside the fruit is a brown, almost round nut that is dense, oily and
hard, protected by a thin woody membrane called the aril. It is this
tegument that envelops the nutmeg seed. This fleshy skin, sometimes
called the "flower of nutmeg," is composed of a web of fibres whose
colour often denotes its origin:....
Drying
The aril is dried in the sun for a week or two and takes on a
yellowish brown colour. It is then flattened and prepared to produce
mace which is then sold in strips, small pieces, or ground.
The nut is dried in the sun until the nutmeg in the centre produces a
rattling sound, which can take from one to two months. Then the pit is
broken with a stick or more sophisticated equipment. The nutmeg inside
is 2 to 3 cm long and 15 to 18 mm in diameter. It is immediately
dipped into a lime-based solution to prevent it from being damaged by
insects. The Dutch also used this lime treatment to sterilize the
nutmeg they exported as we noted in the history of nutmeg. "
http://www.oldetimecooking.com/Herbs/nutmeg.htm
".... It needs extremely fertile soil and to be near the sea where
temperatures rarely dip below 60°F (15.5C). "
http://www.szgdocent.org/ff/f-rain3b.htm
" The tree grows only 9-20m tall and most nutmegs are from
small-holder farms. It blooms only at 5-6 years old, after which it
continues to fruit for about 25-30 years. Each tree bears mostly
female or male flowers, sometimes all the flowers may change gender in
the next season. Thus the tree clearly depends on a pollinator to set
seed and produce this important crop. But to this day, we are still
not sure what the pollinator is. Some say it is a moth, others say it
is a bee or beetle. Yet others suggest it is the wind. The main
disperser of the nut are the imperial pigeon (Ducula concinna) and its
relatives. They are attracted to brightly coloured aril, and drop the
nut uneaten."
Richard Allicock wrote:
> <a number of questions about the cultivation of nutmegs>
David Watson
some of our list friends are getting a bit fed up with it.
I'd just remind them that the ratio of Grenada to Jamaica or Grenada to
Barbados posts are so small that the odd Grenada thread deserves some
leeway. Please, not intended to produce negative comments.
>Richard Allicock wrote
>Since I have never seen a nutmeg tree, much more a grove of them......
The world "grove" does not describe a nutmeg plantation. At least when I
think of a grove I think of grapes or apple trees. Perhaps, though, that
name is used. Nutmegs are medium size trees dotted around cool tropical
hillsides, with lots of other stuff growing around them. If you're around
nutmegs you're usually elevated, cool and tropical, but not desperately
humid.
>How does the male trees fertilize the female trees?
This is uncertain, even today. Opinion in Grenada seems to run the gamut -
from wasps, moths to nothing. Theories of which insect does it or doesn't do
it are in the literature, but I don't expect that is a general interest
topic.
>Can one identify male trees from female trees, and differentiate male and
female seeds and seedlings?
The declaration of sex requires 5 to 8 years of seedling growth, but is
critical to production, as only female trees produce fruit. the role of the
male trees is still debatable.
>Does the fruit require ingestion by an animal to break-down the outer fruit
part.
No. Seeds drop and germinate. This is a common form of propagation. A pigeon
seems to have found its way into the literature, but I'm skeptical.
>Do the fruits have to fall and decompose in the shade of the parent tree,
and take root and germinate in the shade, or does it have to be propagated
by animals passing the seeds out of their gastro-intestinal tract elsewhere
to give the seedlings a better chance for survival, (which they would not
have in competing with many other seeds), or in the shade of the parents?
You can let the seedlings propagate naturally, or graft or some other ways
that were used after the Janet disaster. Too botanical to get into.
>Is brazing by a forest fire required to burn off the remnants of fruit or
part of the outer-surface of the seeds, before germination can begin?
No
>Do the trees have to [be] planted in valleys, on the side of hills or
between other species for shade?
The sides of hills seems to be the best, but I'll bet I could find a nutmeg
that confounds the generally accepted wisdom.
>What kind of soil is required, acidic, neutral, alkaline, clay or loam?
What's called moderate clay loam, well drained but with reasonable water
retention. The sides of hills is usual, but most of Grenada is the sides of
hills.
>What kind of irrigation is required?
Nutmegs are never irrigated.
There is a 1995 report on Grenada nutmegs done by the FAO. You might still
be able to find it on the URL below.
David
E-Traveller
relatives in Grenada, but I was there for my honeymoon a thousand years ago
and saw the nutmeg trees on the way across the island from the old airport,
Pearles I think. Each winter the urge to go back and visit the Carribean
becomes stronger. This time we'll make it to Jamaica to see where my
grandfather was born.
Jim Saunders
""David Watson"" <family...@utoronto.ca> wrote in message
news:MABBKAIOJGAMIENKJCPLK...@utoronto.ca...
Richard Allicock
Thanks for completing my education on the Nutmeg issue.
I almost feel like planting some nuts in time for harvesting at my
retirement!:))
Richard