CARDAMOM. 115 



The whole of the fruits on one stalk do not mature siiniiltaneoiislv, but 

 the ripe and unripe are all cut together with the stalk, and in that 

 state dried ; of course to the detriment of the crop. This is done 

 partly to avoid the fruit being eaten by serpents, frogs and squirrels, 

 and partly to prevent the dehiscence of the capsules which takes 

 place at the time of complete maturity. In some plantations, 

 however, the harvest is collected in a more rational way. 



As soon as gathered, the fruit is conveyed to the drying sheds 

 and left exposed for a few days on mats. They are then detached 

 from the stalks and the desiccation completed by suspending them 

 in flat baskets over a gentle slow fire. In Coorg the pods are 

 picked from the stalks previous to drying, which is effected 

 entirely by exposure to the sun. 



A writer in the " Tropical Agriculturist," 1st March, 1888, 

 referring to the methods above-described for forming a cardamom 

 plantation, says ; — " The spontaneous way in which the plant was 

 for a long time supposed to be exclusively produced, viz., from the 

 concussion of the ground occasioned by the fall of a large tree 

 felled over it, was probably a cunning idea suggested by the 

 interested motives of those who were the fortunate holders of the 

 cardamom hills and habitats, but there is no (juestion of the fact 

 that cardamoms can be reared from seed sown in shaded nurseries 

 in the ordinary way, or from the division of the rhizome into parts 

 containing young shoots or eyes fit for development into them. 

 The former is undoubtedly the quickest way of forming a planta- 

 tion ; although it must be admitted the seed is singularly slow in 

 germinating, takiug never less than three and often as many as 

 five months, before the little spikes show themselves above ground. 

 Within a year from this time the plants will, with careful culture, 

 have attained a sufficient size to be planted out into pits dug for 

 their reception in the shade of the forest, suitably prepared by 

 trenching, and the thorough extirpation of root and branch of the 

 brush-wood occupying the surface. A moderate degree of shade 

 and any amount of moisture are the climatic conditions most 

 favourable for the plant's luxuriant growth. If the shade be too 

 profound, the stalks which spring from the rhizome will be but 

 few in number, but if sunhght be moderately admitted, they will 

 increase amazingly, often exceeding 70 in number ; yet, if exposed 

 to sunshine for more than an hour or two daily, the plant 

 languishes and eventually dies out. Each stalk throws out a 



