THE TECHNOLOGIST. [March ], 1864 u 



370 ON MALABAR CARDAMOMS. 



pericarpal coats. According to Tromsdorff, they contain essential oil, 4*6 ; 

 fixed oil, 10 - 4 ; malate of potash, fecula, yellow colouring matter, woody 

 fibre, and other unimportant ingredients. The fixed oil is somewhat like 

 castor-oil, and the volatile oil is of specific gravity 0'943, insoluble in 

 potash ; it is the source of the aromatic quality of the seeds. The ver- 

 nacular names of the plant are — Malabar, Yalum ; Tamil, Aila-cheddie ; 

 Teloogoo, Yaylakooloo ; Hindostani and Bengalee, Eelachie. 



The principal places where these cardamoms are cultivated are the 

 hilly parts of Travancore and Malabar, Wynaad, Coorg, Nuggur, and 

 North Canara. In the Travancore forests, they are found at an elevation 

 of three to five thousand feet. The mode of obtaining them is to clear 

 the forests of trees, when the plants spontaneously grow up in the 

 cleared ground. A similar mode has been mentioned by Roxburgh, 

 who states that in Wynaad, before the commencement of the rams in 

 June, the cultivators seek the shadiest aud woodiest sides of the loftier 

 hills ; the trees are felled, and the ground cleared of weeds, and in 

 about three months the cardamom plants spring up. In four years the 

 shrub will have attained its full height, when the fruit is produced, and 

 gathered in the month of November, requiring no other preparation than 

 drying in the sun. The plant continues to yield fruit till the seventh 

 year, when the stem is cut down, new plants arising from the stumps. 

 They may also be raised from seeds. 



Cardamoms grow in abundance on the north-eastern range of hills 

 which lie on the western borders of the Dendegul, Madura, and Tinne- 

 velly districts. Although these plants grow spontaneously, yet with 

 care and attention they thrive much better than if left to nature, and 

 the cultivators therefore make separate gardens on the hills, and fell the 

 large trees on the ground, in the months of March and April. The 

 place is left till plants shoot from the earth, which is soon after the first 

 rains ; and when the plants grow to the height of five or six inches, 

 the cultivators resort to the place, and secure the plants from being in- 

 jured by the wild animals till they attain the height of some two feet, 

 when they are considered not to require further care. The plants take 

 three years to bear. In June and July of the third year, they commence 

 yielding from the stem of the plant, just above the ground, a number of 

 twine-like roots, on which are formed the cardamom flowers and fruits ; 

 these grow gradually to the size of a cocoa-seed, and are ready for col- 

 lecting in the months of November and December. A small quantity, 

 however, those that shoot the roots on the first fall of the rain, will be 

 found fit for collection in the months of July and August. The extreme 

 age of the plants is ten years, when they all die off. The remuneration 

 of these cultivators for their labour in taking care of the growth of the 

 plants and collection, is 210 rupees for each candy (211.) for 5001b. pro- 

 duced and delivered over to the sircar by them. The annual average 

 produce of cardamoms in Travancore, in the ten years ending 1854, was 

 about 300 candies. It is a government monopoly in that State. The value 



