114 ODOROGRAPHIA. 



clearings can be planted.* Ludlow, Assistant Conservator of 

 forests, states,t that an acre of forest only produces 28 lbs. of 

 cardamoms annually : he avers that the plants, which grow in the 

 forest clearings of Coorg, are mostly wild and of the same 

 spontaneous sort of growth as is developed by plants in clearings 

 in European forests. 



A writer in " The Planter's Gazette," states that the yield on 

 good soil in Ceylon is about 130 lbs. per acre. 



The work by Elliot, abovereferred to, contains valuable information, 

 acquired by personal experience, concerning this cultivation, such 

 as may ensure success to Colonists engaging in it, and he considers 

 it a branch of industry worthy the attention of Europeans. 



The follow^ing details were communicated to Messrs. Eluckiger 

 and Hanburyl by Col. Beddome, Conservator of Forests of Madras ; 

 information being also conmiunicated to them by Dr. Brandis, 

 Inspector General of Indian Forests, and Dr. King, Director of the 

 Botanic Garden, Calcutta, and probably embodied in their valuable 

 work : — " The cardamom is grow^n in shady localities on the lower 

 slopes of the Pulney mountains, near Dindigul, at an elevation of 

 between 4,000 and 5,000 feet above the sea. In the dense and 

 always humid forests, known by the name of Sholas, the natives 

 make clearings by burning all the underwood from beneath the 

 trees and cutting down the smaller trees. The young cardamom 

 plants then soon appear on the surface of the bare soil, and when 

 they have attained a few inches in height are transplanted, either 

 singly or in couples to beneath the shade of large trees. They do 

 not bear fruit until five years old. (The temperature of the 

 cardamom region averages 22^ C, and the annual rainfall 119 

 inches)." 



In the north of Kanara and in the west of Mysore the cardamom 

 is cultivated in the Areca-nut plantations. The young seedlings 

 are planted beneath the shade of these palms and bananas. They 

 are said to produce fruit from the third year. The fruit of the 

 cardamom begins to ripen in October and the harvest is 

 gathered during the first two or three months of the dry season. 



* Eeport on the Administration of Coorg for the year 1872-73, Bani,'alore, 

 1873, p. 44. 



t Elliot. Experiences of a Planter in the jungles of Mysore, London, 1871, 

 pp. 11, 201, 209. 



X Hist, des Drogues, ii. 446. 



