8CIT AMINE m. 435 



Each year when the cardamoms ripen, thej^ are collected and 

 dried on rocks, and when thoroughly dried they are delivered 

 to the Cardamom Superintendent, who weighs them in and 

 despatches the crop under escort to the Court, where it is sold, 

 and the grower gets two-iifths of the price realised at the 

 annual auction, the Government retaining the other three-fifths. 



The crop yielded per acre is not large, and, indeed, a heavy 

 crop is a disadvantage, as it would imply that the garden was 

 about to die out. Equal crops of good fidl capsules are to be 

 desired,, and as the trees above drop their leaves and manure 

 the plants below, no further manuring is necessary, though it 

 is generally admitted that manuring would largely increase the 

 crops were it feasible to carry out such operations. 



It has been estimated that there are about 26,000 acres under 

 cardamoms in Travancore, and 13,000 thulams (of 20 lbs. each) 

 is a large crop. Even supposing that the area was much over- 

 estimated, it is probable that the annual crop docs not exceed 

 10 lbs, to the acre, though we have heard it placed at double 

 that amount. 



It will be seen by the figures quoted above that the crops of 

 cardamoms in Travancore vary very considerably, the fact 

 being that the setting of the blossom in March, April and May 

 ia very much dependent on the weather, frequent showers dur- 

 ing those months bein^ most favourable to a good crop, while 

 a heavy monsoon is said to destroy the young fruit. Here too, 

 as in the caser of most fruit crops, a good year is followed by 

 one or two bad ones and vice versa. 



Formerly, when Travancore used to supply the world with 

 this spice, the price realized was very good, but since Ceylon 

 and Curg cardamoms have come into the market, the price has 

 fallen to about i of its former level,, so that the annual 

 amount realized by the Government hardly pays for the 



oruar 



stolen. 



chiefly 



the adjoining district of Madura in British India, scarcely 

 secure any return for their work, and it is now in contemplation 

 to abolish the monopoly altogether. 



