and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— May, 1912. 465 



SALES OF PRODUCE IN BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL MARKETS. 



Fibres, Cotton, Grain, Oil Seeds, Hides and Skins, 

 Timber, Rubber, Drugs, Wool, Ores, Mica, Gums, Tea, 

 Cocoa, Coffee, Copra, Sugar, etc., are being regularly 

 dealt in; Keymer, Son & Co., being selling Agents for 

 Estates, Mills and Exporters. 



Samples v-alued. Best ports for Shipments indicated. 



The management of Estates undertaken. Capital found 

 for the development or purchase of valuable properties. 



KEYMER, SON & CO. , 

 Cables: Whitefriars, 

 KEYMER, LONDON. LONDON, E. C. 



(Same address since 1844). 



after which year low prices led to a reaction. The 

 favourite cardamom districts of Ceylon are 

 Matale (1474), Medamahanuwara (1499), and 

 Hewaheta (395). The figures in parentheses 

 relate to the acreage under cultivation in 1910, 

 when 7,426 acres of land of the value of 445,560£. 

 was given over in Ceylon to cardamom cultiva- 

 tion. In a typical view in a cardamom plantation 

 the great height of the plants is evident by the 

 way in which they arch over the owner seated on 

 horse-back. Owen deals with the cultivation of 

 the plant in Ceylon in his pamphlet on "Car- 

 damom Cultivation." Portions of forest lands 

 or sheltered moist hollows in plantations are 

 cleared, the undergrowth being piled' in heaps 

 to rot or to be burnt, and roots removed. Suf- 

 ficient shade is left, a chequered arrangement 

 admitting a fair amount of light and air. Drain- 

 ing is as a rule unnecessary, but, where wet 

 flats must be drained, the gullies should be 

 large (at least 2 ft. deep and wide) to prevent 

 choking. Holes 1£ ft. to 2 ft. wide and 12 in. to 

 15 in. deep are dug 7 ft. apart in rows at a simi- 

 lar distance. These stools are filled then with 

 good surface mould, freed from stones. Before 

 inserting a bulb, the roots are shortened with a 

 knife if too long, and then carefully spread out, 

 placing the bulb so that the bottom of the aerial 

 stem is exposed. If planted too deep, it will 

 rot. The best bulbs are double ones, consisting 

 of two stems connected together, with one or 

 more shoots springing from their bases. Where 

 time i"r no object, the bulbs can be planted un- 

 covered in a nursery, watered when necessary, 

 breaking off the numerous shoots thrown up 

 59 



with a few roots attached. These.'succeed well 

 when planted out. 



The use of seedlings instead of bulbs is grow- 

 ing. The seeds are obtained from fully ripe 

 fruit in adhering masses. They are dried by a 

 short exposure to the sun, and steeped in water 

 for a few hours. The seeds are then sown thinly 

 in nursery beds consisting of a mixture of sand 

 and vegetable mould. The young seedlings are 

 shaded by fern fronds stuck in the bed or by a 

 thatch of branches arranged 3 or 4 ft. above 

 them. The Mysore variety is the most easily 

 grown from seed, but apparently only a small 

 proportion germinates. Planting can be done 

 at any time when there is no dry Spell of 

 weather. The seedlings will produce a maiden 

 crop in three years. Little is known in regard 

 to pruning or manuring the plants. 



Picking. 



In Ceylon the plants flower almost all the year 

 round, but principally in Jauuary to May. Pick- 

 ing begins at the end of August and continues 

 until April, October to December yielding most 

 fruit. The flowers open in ones and twos at a 

 time, the fruits also ripening successively, ex- 

 tending over a second season. In India the 

 wasteful method of pulling off whole racemes is 

 followed, but in Ceylon careful attention is given 

 to picking. The capsules are cut off with short- 

 bladed scissors before they ripen (they split if 

 pulled off or are ripe), the slight turn of colour 

 to yellow and the firmness of the fruit being the 

 indications to the coolie expert. The first or 

 maiden crops give the larger pods, while the 

 earlier pickings also yield finer fruit. An ave- 

 rage daily picking is 10 lb. 



