FRUCTUS CARDAMOM! ' Gi5 



which the admission of light occasions the plant to devclopein abundance. 

 The cardamom plants attain 2 to 8 feet in height during- the following 

 monsoon, after which the ground is again cleared of weeds, protected 

 with a fence, and left to itself for a year. About two years after the 

 first clearing the plants begin to flower, and five months later ripen 

 some fruits, but a full crop is not got till at least a year after. The 

 plants continue productive six or seven years. A garden, 484 square 

 yards in area, four of which may be made in an aero of forest, 

 wdll give on an average an annual crop of 12| lbs. of garbled 

 cardamoms.' Ludlow, an Assistant Conservator of Forests, reckons 

 that not more than 28 lbs. can be got from an acre of forest. From 

 what he says, it further appears that the plants which come up on 

 clearings of the Coorg forests arc mainly seedlings, which ^ make their 

 appearance in the same gw-asi-spontaneous manner as certain plants in 

 the clearings of a wood in Europe. He says they commence to bear in 

 about n^ years after their first appearance.''^ The plan of cultivation 

 above described is that pursued in the forests of Travancore, Coorg and 

 Wynaad. 



Hills 



elevation of about 5,000 feet above the sea, the cardamom plant is 

 cultivated in the shade. The natives burn down the underwood, and 

 clear away the small trees of the dense moist forests called sJiolas, 

 which are damp all the year round. The cardamoms are then sown, 

 and when a few inches high are planted out, either singly or m twos, 

 under the shade of the large trees. They take five years before they 

 hear fruit: " in October," remarks our informant,^ " I saw^the plants m 

 full flower and also in fruit,— the latter not however ripe." ^ 



Western 



1 



in the betel-nut plantations. The plants, which are raised from seed, 

 are planted between the palms, from which and from plantains they 

 derive a certain amount of shade. They are said to produce truit m 

 their third year. , . , . 



Cardamoms begin to ripen in October, and the gathering contmues 

 during dry weathe? for two or three months. All the fraits on a scape 

 do not become ripe at the same time, yet too generally the whole scape 

 IS gathered at once and dried,— to the manifest detriment ot the drug. 

 This is done partly to save the fruit from being eaten by snakes trogs 

 and squirrels, and partly to avoid the capsules splitting, which they do 

 ^vhen quite mature. In some plantations however the cardamoms aie 

 gathered in a more reasonable fashion. As they are col ected the fruits 

 are carried to the houses, laid out for a few days on mats, then stripped 

 irom their scapes, and the drying completed by a gentle ^f "^^^j;^^ 

 Coorg the fruit is stripped from the scape before drying, and the drjang 



IS sometimes effected wholly by sun-heat. . io^.^i>,« oro n 



In the native states of' Cochin and Travancore cardamom are a 



^"onopoly of the respective governments. The rajah ?V^^^;^^*^.^;^^^^^^^^ 

 requires that all the produce shall be sold to his ofi^cials, who f or^^ ard 



, ' feport on the Adnunl.tratlon of Cooru Madras We J^ jv^ Ijkewi J to ac Wedge 



for |e, ear 1872-73, Bangalore, 1873, 44 'f^l^^^Z^S^^trlZSiX and 



^S^^:^K:^^i"(S;'20M^5: S^^S. ^-t. of t.c Botanic Garde, 



tol. Beddome, Conservator of Forests, Calcutta. 



