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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March 2, 1885. 



By last year's exceptionally dry season most cultiv- 

 ators suffered disastrously, by the loss more or less 

 of blossom and light fruit, while some who had 

 ventured into risky localities experienced total loss 

 of both crop and plant.* 



A product so extremely valuable, and so easily stoln, 

 is peculiarly liable to thef', while from the luxuriant 

 growth of the vegetation, detection is difficult and pro- 

 tection expensive. In some exposed situations robberies 

 became so frequent and the cost of watching so great, 

 that cultivation almost ceased to be profitable. In one 

 instance, during the course of a single night, the whole 

 crop of a small clearing away at the top of an estate 

 was ruthlessly cut off' and removed. 



Grub threatens to become a formidable enemy. + 

 Here and there through some cleariugs stools may be 

 seen flattened down as if a large stone had fallen on 

 their centre, while by a slight pull steins may be 

 withdrawn without difficulty. This may arise from 

 the presence of rock at bottom, but more usually, I 

 fear, it is due to grub. Again a whole field may 

 generally become subjected to this pest, when the 

 leaves turn yellowish, the stems fail to reach mature 

 growth and crop ceases. I have known a fine clearing 

 so affected suddenly, fall from a yield of over 500 lb. 

 an acre one year to practically nothing the next. 

 Seemingly the only cure is time, or the heroic remedy 

 extirpation and renewal. 



Excepting the early days of a plantation, monkeys 

 seldom do much mischief and then only wanton, but 

 wild pigs when they can get admission will always 

 do considerable damage. A gun for monkeys and a 

 fence for pigs become necessities in the neighbourhood 

 of much jungle or chena. 



There is an ailment of which little is spoken, perhaps 

 because it is attributed to wind and drought, but it is 

 often to be found badly in sheltered spots and during 

 the rainy season. The leafy portion of tbe stem, 

 particularly the upper leaves, get blotched and speckled 

 with yellow or brown spots, become frayed, something 

 like the leaf of a coconut tree suffering from beetle, 

 and then rapidly decaying, falls off, leaving the mid 

 rib bare and withered. If anything, cardamoms in the 

 open seem to suffer most from this ; but though it is 

 yearly on the increase, and undoubtedly affects the 

 health of the plant, it does not appear so far to 

 diminish the crop. 



A poor-looking stiffish hard dry soil tolerably free 

 from stones is unfavourable for the cropping if not the 

 growth of cardamoms. To be suitable, a soil can hardly 

 have too much vegetable mould or latent moisture, 

 though dampness of atmosphere is of more consequence 

 than of soil.? 



Ordinary wind may be met by close planting ; but 

 when cold and dry as well as strong it becomes fatal. 



In some parts duriug the settingin of the north- 

 east monsoon, extensive blackening and rotting of fruit- 

 stalks takes place. This is put down by some to 

 prolonged wet with a rainfall of, say over 50 inches 

 per month, but 1 think it is more the result of continued 

 damp following a long and severe drought that has already 

 weakened if not kdled the fruit stalk. Will Dr. 

 Trimen kindly say whether this part of the plant 

 should be called a scape, a race, or a raceme '! 



The black fungu3 has been detected on cardamom 

 leaves, but only, I think, when near affected coffee, 

 and, as might he expected, without apparent injury to 

 the plaut. 



been 

 Ed. 



As happened to cacao in some places. — Ed. 

 \ Has this, the most destructive, perhaps, of all pests, 

 en known to attack the roots of the cacao plant ? — 



t We suppose there is a limit as regards wet, for on 

 a Yakdessa estate with over 250 inches of annual rainfall, 

 we saw cardamoms which grew, but could not produce 

 fruit enough to pay for the gathering.— Ed. 



The extent of very suitable land is limited greatly 

 by climate and soil, and as this new product is not a 

 high cropping long liver, it is very doubtful if, unless 

 during the next two years, there will be any over- 

 production in Ceylon. At the eud of March next, would 

 you please publish shipments, as by then at least two- 

 thirds of the crop should have gone forward. 



Prices have already very considerably fallen, and 

 they may likely for a time go much lower still; so 

 that any temptation to rush further planting should 

 not now be indulged in. Local opinion still differs as to 

 the propriety of bleaching the produce. No doubt it 

 weakens the flavor and aroma of the SDice; but, so long 

 as it Fecures a better price in London, it may be 

 desirable, from financial motives, to continue doing it. 



As regards the two kinds, the Mysore is undoubtedly 

 the hardier in every way, yields a larger fruit, aud 

 is more easily picked but I can't help thinking the 

 flavour is coarser, and the yield less. 



CARDAMOMUM. 



P. S.— In connection with the above, it is interest- 

 ing to note how two other kindred species — pepper and 

 pimento— are also gathered before reaching full ripe- 

 ness, and how the two, pepper and ginger, also so 

 frequently undergo a whitening process to the pre- 

 judice of their strength, before reaching the hands 

 of the consumer. 



[This is a very valuable and timely contribution 

 to the history of a plant, the cultivation of which 

 has, naturally, been taken up very extensively, and 

 which, apart from the drawbacks mentioned by our 

 correspondent, has already been overdone. The worst 

 of products like cinnamon, cardamoms, vanilla aud such 

 like is, that, being luxuries and not necesssaries of 

 life, the market can be so speedily swamped. No doubt 

 suear, coffee and tea, now absolute necessaries to a largo 

 proportion of the human race, have been over-produced. 

 But, iu the case of these and similar articles, plenty 

 and cheapness largely and rapidly stimulate con- 

 sumption, so leading to further demand at remunerative 

 prices. — Ed.] 



Mauritian Society for Colonizing Madagascar. 

 —The Mauritian public should heartily thank the 

 Mauritian Society for the Colonizing of Madagas. 

 car, for it has been established at the very moment 

 when most wanted. There are numbers of persona 

 without employ, there are many who fear to lose 

 their occupation very soon ; let them go to Mada- 

 gascar, for the society is formed with the express 

 intention Df aiding and assisting all persons who 

 may wish to emigrate to Madagascar. [Yes, and to 

 become French subjects. — Ed.] 



Lime for agricultural turposes is thus noticed 

 iu the " Agricultural Notes " of the Melbourne Leader : 

 — A pateut has been taken out iu London for prepar- 

 ing and applying lime for agricultural purposes. The 

 inventor specifies the employment of fiuely divided 

 or pulverized anhydrous lime, such preparation being 

 effected either by grinding the burnt limestone, as 

 taken from the kiln, into fine powder or by other 

 means, such diminuted or pulverized lime being then 

 brought into contact with the soil and covered in or 

 caused to be mixed therewith either by drilling, plough- 

 ing, harrowing or otherwise. The powerful affinity 

 the anhydrous lime in powder haB for moisture generates 

 an extraordinary amount of heat and this action pro- 

 duced in the soil by lime with the moisture contained 

 in it is of the utmost importance as to the chemical 

 affinity of the lime combining with the constituents 

 there present, and rendering them more efficacious as 

 manure, and also as a more powerful disintegrator 

 than lime applied in the ordinary way, while it at 

 the same time reduces the cost of liming land for 

 agricultural or grazing purposes. 



