This section is from the book "The Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia", by Luke Hebert. Also available from Amazon: Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia.
The produce of the caryophillus aromaticus of Linnaeus, which grows in the Molucca Islands, particularly in Amboyna, where it is principally cultivated. The clove tree resembles in its bark the olive, and is about the height of the laurel, which it also resembles in its leaves. No verdure is ever seen under it. It has a great number of branches, at the extremities of which are produced vast quantities of flowers, that are first white, then green, and at last red and hard. When they arrive at this degree of maturity, they are, properly speaking, cloves. The season for gathering is from October to February, when the boughs of the trees are shaken, or the cloves beaten down by reeds, large cloths being spread to receive them. These are afterwards either dried in the sun, or in the smoke of the bamboo cane.
 
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