430 SCITAMINEM 



5 gallons of water, and a separate solution of common country 

 soap is made. Three quarts of tlie soapnut mixture are added 

 to 8 quarts of water, and in this 10 lbs. of cardamoms are well 

 agitated by hand and then transferred to a basket to drain for a 

 few minutes. They are then washed a second time in 7 quarts of 

 water, one of the soapnut mixture, and one of the soap solution, 

 drained and thrown upon a mat. Then they are continually 

 sprinkled with fresh water by relays of women until sunrise 

 next morning, when they are spread out on mats to dry for four 

 or five hours. The stalks are then cut off with scissors, at 

 which work some women are so expert as to be able to nip 

 90 cardamoms in one minute. This done, the cardamoms are 

 sorted for export. The starching process, which has only lately 

 been introduced, consists in sprinkling the cardamoms with a 

 thin paste made of rice and wheat flour, country soap, and 

 butter milk, and rubbing them between the palms of the hands. 



The washing mixtures are used for two lots of cardamoms 

 and are then thrown away. The women who wash are paid 3 

 annas per diem ; the night watchers 4 annas, and the nippers 

 2^ annas per 13 lbs. 



Description.- — The cardamom of commerce is a dry, 

 three-sided, oblong, or roundish capsule of a yellowish-brown or 

 dirty white colour. The pericarp is tough, and divides into 

 three valves, from the middle of the inner surface of each a 

 partition projects towards the axis, so as to divide the capsule 

 into three cells, each of which is filled with closely packed 

 angular seeds, each surroimded by a thin transparent membrane 

 (aril}» The seeds are of a rich brown colour, about two lines 

 long, transversely rugose, with a depressed hilum, and deeply 

 channelled raphe. The capsule is almost tasteless. The seeds 

 have a pungent, camphoraceous, agreeable flavour, and leave a 

 sensation of cold upon the tongue when chewed. 



Microscox>ic stradure.—ThG testa of the seed is formed of 

 three layers: Ut, a layer of thjck-wulled striated cells; 2nd, a 

 layer of large thin-walled cells ; 'ii/y/, an internal layer of dark- 

 brown radiating cells, with very thick walls. The albumen is 



