CARDAMOMS 347 



.Boarmia Bliurmitra, Wik. A brown twig-like 

 caterpillar of this species of Geometer moth was found 

 by Mr. E. Green to have destroyed the foliage of a large 

 number of cardamom plants in Ceylon. The insect 

 really attacked the Grevillea robusta trees used as 

 shade for tea plants and the cardamoms, and having 

 devoured all the leaves of the grevillas attacked the 

 next plant they could eat, which happened to be the 

 cardamoms. This is a common occurrence when cater- 

 pillars of any kind become so abundant that they too 

 soon eat all their proper food-stuff, and have to supple- 

 ment the failure by something else. The moth is about 

 lj in. across, brown with transverse streaks and dots of 

 darker colour. The case is recorded in Watt's Pests of 

 the Tea Plant. 



Coccidae. There is a small but common Coccid 

 which I have found attacking the under side of the leaf 

 of cardamoms. The insects, which are very small, not 

 ^ in. long, are when adult of a reddish brown colour, 

 tortoise-shaped, and bearing all round their bodies a 

 fringe of oblong white powdery wax processes. The 

 adults remain stationary on the leaf, crowded closely 

 together. The young ones move about on the leaf in a 

 more active way. They are more yellowish, with longer 

 legs and less wax on their edges. 



In very wet seasons serious losses are sustained 

 by the rotting off of fruit and racemes before maturity. 

 It is probable that this is due to a fungus, but 

 no investigations appear to have been made on the 

 subject. 



A so-called disease in the Kanara gardens is described 

 by Mollison. The affected plants become unthrifty ; 

 the leaves in part become yellow, and these parts wither 

 and the plants have no vigour of growth. The unhealthy 

 appearance was at first local, but later the disease spread 

 and extended over large areas. This, Mollison thinks, 

 is due to degeneration from continuous planting without 

 change of seed, rotation of other crops, or fallowing. 

 This is very probable, as many of the plants of the 



