348 SPICES 



CHAP. 



ginger family degenerate in a few years if grown con- 

 tinuously on the same soil. 



In Kanara borers and grubs are found to cause much 

 damage. They cut through the bases of the leafy stems 

 and bite through the rhizome. " Some of the grubs 

 are identical with the large fat ones commonly found in 

 farmyard manure." These are evidently large lamelli- 

 corn beetle-grubs, but no further account of them is 

 given. 



It is said that leaf mould made of astringent tree- 

 leaves keeps off these insects. 



Eats and wild pigs are in Ceylon and elsewhere 

 very destructive to the cardamoms, and it is said that 

 many cases of snake-bite are due to the hiding of poison- 

 ous snakes in the clumps of cardamoms, where they are 

 lying in wait for rats. In the Singapore Gardens 

 squirrels, also, took a part in the destruction of fruits, 

 and also frequently ate the flowers. 



For these smaller animals poisoning is perhaps the 

 best treatment. The pigs, which not only eat the fruit 

 but gnaw the rhizomes as well, must be hunted and 

 shot. Thieves in Ceylon are most troublesome, taking 

 bulbs or fruit, according to which is in demand. There 

 is great difficulty in detecting and bringing the persons 

 to justice, even with the aid of night watchmen, who 

 are absolutely necessary in some parts of the country. 

 This form of larceny is common in many plantations, 

 and most legislatures have utterly failed to deal with it 

 at all. 



YIELD 



The first crop is a small one, but it is said that the 

 individual capsules are larger, and also that the capsules 

 picked earliest in the year are larger than those obtained 

 later in the season. 



The yield under favourable conditions is very large. 

 In Ceylon, Owen gives 150 Ibs. per acre in the fourth 

 year, and 300 Ibs. per acre in the fifth and succeeding 

 years, as the amount which may be looked for. 



