THE CARDAMOM PLANT 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



ELETTARIA 



CARDAMOMUM 



Cardamom 



Hort. Mai., 1686, xi., 11, tt. 4-6; Alexander Hamilton, New Ace. E. Ind., 

 1727, i., 298-9 ; Rumphius, Herb. Amb., 1750, v., 152-3 (confused the Malaya 

 with the Indian plant) ; Amomum repens, Sonnerat, Voy. Ind. Or., 1782, iii., 

 272 et seq., t. 136 ; Buchanan-Hamilton, Journ. Mysore, etc., 1807, ii., 336-7, 

 510-12, 538 ; iii., 225, etc. ; Alpinia Cardamomum, Roxb., Monandrous Plants 

 in As. Res., 1810, xi., 355 ; also Fl. Ind., i., 70-1 ; Milburn, Or. Comm., i., 276-7 ; 

 Ludlow, Memo. Cardamom Cult, in Coorg., 1868 ; Ind. For., 1884, x., 287-91 ; 

 Foster, Ind. For., 1893, xix., 1-5 ; Dymock, Mat. Med. W. Ind., 1885, 786-8 ; 

 Admin. Rept. Coorg., 1889-1904 ; Nicholls, Textbook Trop. Agri., 1892, 196-9 ; 

 Pharmacog. Ind., 1893, iii., 428-37 ; Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., 1899, xi., 

 n.s., 967-8 ; Woodrow, Oard. in Ind., 1899, 482-3 ; Mollison, Agri. Ledg., 1900, 

 No. 11, 107-13; also Textbook Ind. Agri., iii., 262-8; Schumann, in Engler's 

 Pflanzenr., 1904, iv. (46), 267-9.] 



CULTIVATION. Few recent writers have furnished either so interest- 

 ing or so detailed accounts of the cardamom cultivation as those written 

 during the first decade of the 19th century by White for Malabar and 

 Buchanan-Hamilton for Mysore. It would occupy much space to deal 

 with the centres of chief production separately, or the variations in method 

 of cultivation and preparation that prevail. All that can be here at- 

 tempted is a brief review of the salient points collectively. A fairly deep 

 rich loamy soil, resting on rock, seems indispensable, and if possible this 

 should be within undulating land, not too remote from running water. 

 Shade and a humid atmosphere are essential it luxuriates in mists and 

 fogs and cooling sea-breezes. Northern and western exposures are in 

 South India accordingly considered the best. But all these conditions 

 are not often conveniently combined, and hence the localities of successful 

 production are somewhat restricted. Even within Malabar there are 

 only certain tracts that can be spoken of as specially favourable. 



1. Forest Production. The system described by Rheede still pre- 

 vails. Small plots of land within the forests (called dd-kandies) where 

 the wild or acclimatised plant is known to exist are cleared during Feb- 

 ruary and March. The brushwood is cut down and burned, and the roots 

 of powerful weeds torn up so as to free the soil. The shade, if too dense, 



Felling of Trees, is regulated by a certain percentage of trees being felled, thus admitting 

 diffused sunlight ; and, curiously enough (from the most ancient times to 

 the present day), the disturbance or shaking of the soil, by the fall of 

 heavy timber on it, is in itself deemed beneficial. At all events, soon 

 after clearing, cardamom plants spring up all over the prepared plots ; but 

 if any reason exists for doubting the abundance of the future crop, young 

 plants are deposited in the soil at the required distances apart. The plots 

 are then left alone for a couple of years, and by that time the cardamom 

 plants will have eight to ten leaves, and be a foot in height. In the third 

 year they may be four feet in height. In the following May-June the 

 ground is again weeded, and by September to November a light crop may 

 be obtained. In the fourth year weeding is again given, and if the car- 

 damoms are found growing nearer than six feet apart, a few are trans- 

 planted to new positions. A full crop is now obtained, and the plants 

 may bear for three or four years ; that is to say, the life of each plantation 

 is eight or nine years. The seasons in Malabar are a little later than in 

 Mysore, and according to some reports a full crop may even be obtained 

 in the third year. It is also believed that above 2,000 feet the cardamoms 

 grown are of a better quality than below that altitude. 



Plants may be raised from seed or by division of the rhizome. They may 

 be prepared in special nurseries. In about a year the seedlings will be a foot in 

 length, and are then ready for transplantation. When raised by division of the 



514 



Soil. 



Climate. 

 Situation. 



Forest 



Lands. 



Shade. 



Self-sown Stock. 



Third-year Crop 

 Obtained. 



Life of 

 Plantation. 



Altitude. 



Propaga- 

 tion. 



Nursery. 



