The clove tree was originally confined to the five principal Molucca islands, and chiefly to Machean.  From these it was conveyed to Amboyna, a very short time only before the arrival of the Portuguese.  By them the cultivation was strictly restricted to Amboyna, every effort being made to extirpate the plant elsewhere.

It has now, however, spread to Java, Singapore, and the Straits’ Settlements, Ceylon, the Mauritius and Seychelles, Bourbon, Zanzibar, Cayenne, Dominica, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, and Trinidad.

Cloves contain a volatile oil, associated with resinous, gummy, and astringent matter, which is yielded in larger proportion than by any other plant.  Neuman obtained by distillation two ounces and two drachms from sixteen ounces of cloves.  On an average cloves yield from 17 to 22 per cent. of oil, including the heavy and light oils.  The oil is aromatic and acrid, and has been used as a condiment and a stimulant carminative.  It is also extensively used by distillers and soap makers.

It is said that the clove does not thrive well on the soil of Java, the plantations of which trial had been made not having succeeded to the extent expected, although they were directed by skilled persons from Amboyna; the places they made choice of did not differ materially as to soil and climate from those of the Moluccas.

M. Teysman, Director of the Botanical Gardens at Batavia, seems to have bestowed much attention on the subject.  The exports however from the island have been considerable.  In 1830, there were 803 piculs shipped; in 1835, 4,566; in 1839, 2,334; in 1843, 2,027 piculs of 133 lbs.

M. Buee, who introduced the culture of the clove in the island of Dominica, about 1789, thus describes the results of his experience, which may be useful to other experimental cultivators.  He obtained a few plants from Cayenne, and raised 1,600 trees from seed, which, in a year from the first sowing, were transplanted.  The seeds were sown at about six inches apart from each other, in beds; over these beds small frames were erected about three feet from the ground, and plantain leaves were spread on the top, in order to shelter the young plants from the sun.  The leaves were allowed gradually to decay, and at the end of nine months the young plants, which by that time were strong, were permitted to receive the benefit of the sun; but if not protected from it when very young, they were found to droop and die.

When transplanted, the trees were placed at sixteen feet apart from each other.  They grew very luxuriantly, and at the end of fifteen months after their removal, attained the height of from three to four feet.  The ground wherein they were planted had been a coffee plantation during forty years.  The coffee trees had decayed, and an attempt had been made to replace them; but they refused to grow; whereas the clove plants flourished as if on congenial soil, and a crop was gathered on some of them when they were not more than six years old, which period is two or three years earlier than the usual time for gathering.