THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. 1, 1902. 
as to fall across the sickly plants. Young plants then 
spring up, while fresh stems shoot out from the roots 
of the old ones, aad the new comers bear fruit in due 
course, dying do'^n after five or six yeava, to be again 
succeeded by another generation produced by the 
process above described. The hill cultivators ha'^'e 
their own superstitious notions, of course, but it 
ia not difl&oult to explain rationally the good effects 
of the process of felling. The removal of the large 
trees admits a certain amount of sunlight ; their heavy 
fall loosens the soil and opens it up to the action of 
the air. The cutting down of the undergrowth, which 
decays o^nd dies where it drops, helps to fertilise the 
soil and to prevent its nutritive properties from 
being exhausted. The crushing of the plants at in- 
tervals of six or seven years by means of further felling 
merely serves. to "give them much-needed rest, after 
wbi hthe , corae nt> figain, reji;vena''ed and vigorous. 
ilar vesting opeiiiti^ad begin in September or 
October, and they present a really picturesque scene, 
though it is undoubtedly hard work foL- the harvesters, 
who have to put up with many disc -.mforts and be 
urepaved p-ny moment for unpropitious showers of rain 
They biiild little huts in the jungle, and in the centre 
of the floor a large pit is dug, about three feet deep, 
that will hold about eight or ten maunds of cardamoms. 
The sides of the pit are covered with leaves, and a 
circle of stones is arranged ■ round the top to prevent 
dirt from falling in. At early dawn, one group of 
harvesters sets out to clear the gardens of weeds and 
undergrowth, and a little later, a second group follows. 
Thes9 pluck the clusters of carilMmomii by hand, 
breaking ofi the raceiu.-s very close tO' the soems and 
dropping them into baskets made of leaves. At sunset, 
all return, bearing their precious loads. At night, 
after^a simple meal, the capsules are picked from the 
branches and thrown into the pit— a task which is 
sometimes carried on late into the night. After a 
little sleep, the men rise betimes and proceed to the 
gardens, and the whole programme is repeated until 
the harvest has been fully collected. 
Meanwhile, the womaii come from the villages to 
the huts, and measuring the cardamoms into bags, 
carry them to the dryiog ground. They are best dried 
by exposure to the sun, being spread out for the 
purpose on large raat^, and taken in at night. Pour 
days' good sun dries them properly, but too much ex- 
posure would result in the bursting of the capsules.- 
After being dried, they assume a yellowish white 
colour. If rains comes down, the drying is efiected 
by means of the smoke of wood fires, but by this 
process the cardamoms turn a darkish colour, which 
reduces their value. The last process, before the dried 
napsules are packed in close baskets and made ready 
for market, consists in removing the fruit stalks and 
all impurities. Precautions are also taken to keep dry 
and green capsules apart ; besides which, different 
qualities of capsules are carefully separated, those 
having the largest number of fruit bearing racemes 
on one stem fetching the best price and being techui- 
Cilly knawn as " full crop." 
The Ooorgs have several superstitions regarding the 
cultivation of cardamoms. The felling of the big 
trees must be completed by noon, for it is deemed 
unlucky to fell in the afternoon. Tuesday and Friday 
are considered very auspicious days for beginning 
cultivation, whereas Sunday is always avoided as 
unlucky. The presence of certain plants, such as 
ebony, dammer, wild nutmeg and wild pepper, near 
the felled trees, is looked u-^on as a sure sign that the 
site cleared for new gardens is favourable for a rich 
crop To ascertain this, a few big trees are sometimes 
felled one year and the following year, tbe;presence or 
absence of the lucky trees just named is looked for, 
and only it they are found is the site used for a garian 
Cardamoms serve a great variety of purposes, and 
possess, therefore, considerable commercial value. In 
commerce, several varieties are distinguished according 
to their size and fl ivour. The most esteemed ari 
known as " shorts, " being from a quarter to half au 
inch long and about » quarter broad. Following tho»e 
come " short longs " and " long longs, " also dis- 
tinguished by their size, the la?:gest reaching about 
an inch in length. The " shorts " are more coarsely 
ribbed aad of a brown colour. They are commer- 
cially called Malabar cardamoms or Wynaad caida- 
mom? and reckoned the best of the tree. Tho " long 
longs" are more finely ribbed and of a paler colour, 
tha seeds being white and shrivelled. The ''short 
longs" differ fiom the latter only in being shorter or 
less pointed. La'ge cardamoms, distinct from these, 
are furnished by a different species of amomum. 
In Travancore, where the cardamom grows spon- 
taneously in the hills, in the deep shade- of the 
forest, the cultivation has hitherto been almost en- 
tirely in native hf.nds. Tlie cultiv^itors early in the 
season go up from the low country, out the brush- 
wood, burn the creepers and otherwise clear the soil, 
for the growth of she p'ants as soon as the rains 
fall. The rainy mouths are terribly malarious, so the 
cultivators hurry bank, to return at crop time. Till 
a few years ago, cardamoms were State monopoly, 
bat this systam has been almost totally abolished and 
a;. system of lai-d-tax introduced instead, with consi- 
derable profit to the Sirkav. lu Goorg and Wynaad 
also, the industry is almost entirely in native hands, 
though the cu tivators can always obtain remunera- 
tive prices from planters and European merch^nts. 
Ou the Anjer Kandy Settlement, near Telliohery, 
there are fine gardens, which yield very satisfactory 
retnrns. ■ 
The cardatnom is not very largely used in Buglisk 
cookery, but in Northern Europe it is ostensivelv cou- 
sumed, being much in recjaisitton for fli,vouring 
pastry. In India it is greatly prized, and is an article 
of almost daily use, being substituted for tobacco 
as well as for batel and pan, as well as partaken of 
in conjunction with thess articles. The capbules are 
used by natives in fl.ivouring sweetmeats and certain 
cooked dishes, while, when tender, they are pickled. 
The use of the spice both as a medicine and a 
luxury ha,s gone np steadily, so that cardamom cul- 
tivation, systematically conducted, would be a suitable 
industry especially for native capitalists and planters. 
The cost of cultivation does not amount to much, 
while by the adoption of improved methods, such as 
timely transplantation, trenching, manuring and irri- 
gation, quantity and quality of crop could both 
be substantially improved. The plant easily repays 
care bestowed upon it, almost the only necessary 
conditions being that it should be raised on congenial 
soil and harvested and cured with due regard to the 
needs of buyers and consumers. — Indian Agriculturtit 
Value of Wood Ashes.— The three valuable fertilis- 
ing elements found in wood ashes are potash, phos- 
phoric acid, and lime. The value of a sample of 
wood ashes was formerly measured by the amount of 
potash it contained, but now that the value of lime is 
more generally recognised, that element is considered; 
The value of any sample of ash will depend on the 
wood which was burned to produce it, and on the way 
it was burned, if exposed to the weather heavy rains 
will loach out some of the potash. It is probably safe 
to assume that the average ton of wood ashes kept 
under cover contams 5 per cent, of pjtash, 1§ per cent, 
of phosphoric acid, and 33 per cent, of lime. The 
phosphoric acid in ashes is insoluble, but the potash 
and the lime are both in good form for plant feeding. 
Wood ashes have a mechanical effect on soils. They 
bind the lighter sandy loams more closely together, 
thus making them better able to hold water, The 
lime acts beneficially on clay soils by pulversina: them. 
The potash lye from the ashes, in solution, has power 
to dissolve organic matter, and thus making '.ni- 
trogen in the soil available. Wherever wood is burned 
on'lhe land ver5' rank growth is sure to follow. This is 
not all due to the potash left in the ashes from the 
burning, but because that potasji helped to make the 
nitrogen in the soil available for plant food. — Journal 
oj the Dejiartment of Agrimalture of Western Australia,, 
