THE CARDAMOM PLANT 



Yield. 



Bleaching. 



Yield. 



Different 

 Be turns. 



ELETTARIA 



CARDAMOMUM 



Yield and Trade 



too quickly and thus cause them to burst and thereby to be lowered in 

 value. In a fully stocked betel-nut garden there can be 300 to 400 carda- 

 mom plants to the acre. A well-grown plant may yield up to half a pound 

 of dry cardamoms. Light showers in April and May are favourable. 

 The fruits are dried and bleached in particular ways, according to the 

 market for which destined. The waters of certain wells are moreover 

 supposed to produce particular colours and flavours. The system above 

 briefly reviewed is that also followed in Mysore viz. production in betel- 

 palm plantations. 



AREA AND YIELD. Ludlow observes that when from one stem four scapes 

 are thrown out, the crop is regarded as full ; if only three, it is a three-fourths 

 crop ; if two, a half crop ; if only one, a quarter crop. " One raceme will have 

 from eight to fourteen branches, and each branch from three to six pedicels. 

 When the crop is good, the branches are close together ; when bad, the racemes 

 are long and the branches far apart." " Fruit is occasionally borne on the upper 

 part of the stem, but this is very rare." He further estimates that a garden of 

 484 square yards in area would give on an average 40 seers of green cardamoms 

 or 10 seers of dry fruits. The actual yield, as published, by plantations is 

 variously stated, and seems to range so greatly that the differences would be best 

 accounted for by supposing that returns of green fruits had been contrasted 

 with dry, or that they denoted diversities in stock rather than of soil or methods 

 of cultivation. In Mysore 28 Ib. are spoken of as the yield per acre, and in 

 Ceylon 170 Ib., although even as much as 400 Ib. have been mentioned. In a 

 circular issued by the Madras Government in 1903, the yield per acre is recorded 

 as from 1 1 Ib. to 700 Ib. Omitting the extremes, the more important returns given 

 in that circular were Dindigal, 93 Ib. ; Palni, 125 Ib. ; Kodaikanal, 250 Ib. ; Wynaad, 

 42 Ib. ; Calicut, 50 Ib. ; Uppinangadi, 49 Ib. ; and Kasaragod, 56 Ib. The difference 

 between green and dry pods has been expressed as four to five bushels shrinking 

 to one. 



Very little can be stated regarding the total area under cardamoms. There 

 may be said to be two Indian areas, viz. the Madras and Bombay Presidencies. 

 The former, which is often given the wider signification of South India, may, so 

 far as cardamoms are concerned, be split up into (a) under British Indian Ad- 

 ministration, or Madras proper ; (b) the British Administration of Coorg ; (c) under 

 the Native State of Mysore ; and (d) under the Native State of Travancore. Such 

 particulars as are available regarding these areas are disjointed, and often do not 

 refer to one and the same year. Cardamoms are of course returned under " spices 

 and condiments," and it is only occasionally that the provincial details for these 

 are forthcoming. The Madras Government published, however, in 1903, a state- 

 ment of the cardamom area for the year previous. This showed Madura 

 (Dindigal, Palni, Periyakulam, and Kodaikanal) as possessing 3,714 acres with 

 a yield of 649,281 Ib. Malabar (Chirakkal, Kottayam, Kurumbranal, Wynaad, 

 Calicut, and Ernad) with 1,586 acres and 24,496 Ib. yield. South Kanara 

 (Cundapur, Uppinangadi, and Kasaragod) with 1,260 acres and 68,828 Ib. yield. 

 These give grand totals of 6,560 acres and 742,605 Ib. In the small British Pro- 

 vince of Coorg there are said to be about 60,000 acres retained for cardamom- 

 growing, with, in 1902-3, 1,107 acres actually under the crop and say 50,000 Ib. 

 production. Turning now to the Bombay Presidency : in the official Season and 

 Crop Report it is stated that the area in 1903-4 under cardamoms in the Kanara 

 district came to 3,837 acres, or roughly half the area devoted to it in South India. 

 If, for the purpose of comparison, the yield be accepted as on the same ratio, the 

 production of Bombay should be 370,000 Ib. In 1905-6 the area had increased 

 to 4,573 acres. 



The available information regarding Mysore and Travancore outturn is even 

 more unsatisfactory than for the British districts. A few years ago the Travan- 

 core Cardamom Hills Planters' Association was established, a direct indication 

 of the industry having in South India (as in Ceylon) passed to some extent into 

 the hands of European planters. Of 1903 it has been said that 4,000 acres of 

 cardamoms were owned by European planters. According to Mr. Bourdillon 

 there are some 26,000 acres returned in Travancore as the cardamom area. 

 Doubtless only a small proportion of that is in any one year actually under the 

 spice. The produce of the Travancore plantations has been given as 650,000 Ib., 

 or just a little under that of Ceylon, which is obtained from an area of 10,000 



516 



Area : 

 Madras. 



Totals. 



Coorg. 

 Bombay. 



Mysore and 

 Travan- 

 core. 



