June 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
811 
allowed 6 feet of cleared gronnd around it and all 
weaklings being removed. Early in the third year 
long shoots or stems bearing the cardamom pods 
spring oat of the ground. By September or October 
the capsnles ripen and the first crop is gathered and a 
portion of it is oeremonionsly offered to the deity. In 
the following year a full harvest is reaped, after which 
the plants continue to yield for about six or seven 
years, when they decay, 
THE HARVESTING OPERATIONS 
involve a protracted stay in the jangle on the part of 
the cultivators, They pnt up little huts, digging a 
large pit in the centre of the floor and covering the 
sides with leaves, besides arranging a circle of stones 
at the top to keep any dirt from falling in. The 
harvesters proceed betimes to the garden, and having 
cleared the undergrowth of weeds, begin picking off 
the racemes very close to tho stems and throwing 
them into leaf baskets. The crop is convoyed to the 
huts at sandowu, when the capsules arc picked off one 
by one and thrown into the pit. Tho following day 
the women come and remove tho cardamoms in bags 
to tho drying ground. Four days' good sunning ou 
mats turns tho cardamoms into a yellowish white 
colour. Now tho fruit stalks and all imparities are 
carefully removed and the cardamoms are packed in 
close baskets for conveyance to the market. Among 
the Coorgs, if the sun-drying process is interrupted by 
rain, as is by no means unlikely in September or 
October, wood flros are kindled and the smoke is used 
to dry tho cardamoms. But this process gives very 
unsatisfactory results, the capsules turning to a dark- 
ish colour. 
CARDAMOMS IN TBAVANOOHE. 
In the Travancore State the cardamom plant grows 
spontaneously in the deep shade of the hill forests, 
and the cultivation is almost entirely in the hands of 
natives, most of whom belong to the adjoining 
districts. Very lifctlo care is bestowed on cultivation, 
almost all that is done being a rush to the jangles 
just before the monsoon begins in order to cat and 
barn the brushwood and thereby clear the ground for 
the free growth of the plant. Before the rains come 
the cultivators hurry down and do not trouble to go 
up again until crop time. There is something like 
14,000 acres which are supposed to bo under carda- 
mom cultivation in Travancore, and the State receipts 
from this source of cultivation last year were about 
Us. 87,000, while the value of cardamom exports was 
slightly over Bs. 7i,000. Cardamoms were once a 
State monopoly in Travancore, but this was abolished 
in favour of a land tax system whish has proved a 
larger scarce of revenue. In ^tho (Jochin State also 
there is some cardamom cultivation, but it does not 
Amount to much, as may be j edged fiom the fact that 
last year tho right of collecting minor forest produce, 
iiuiuding cardamoms, lemon grass and gum kino, was 
sold for no more than Rs. 2,938. 
In North Cauara, South Cauara, and Anamalais, the 
Palneys, Malabar and the Wynaad, there is consider- 
able cultivation, but it is for the most part in native 
hands and is of an indifferent character. The cost of 
cultivation is comparatively trifling, but with a little 
more outlay and the adoption of up to-date methods, 
a largely increased outturn and great improvement in 
quality could Bafoly bo reckoned upon. 
ARTIFICIAL VANILLIN AS A SUB- 
STITUTE FOU VANILLA. 
The cullivaliou of vanilla has never taken any 
great hold in Ceylon, though ou a few Kuropoan-owued 
estates smalt acreages are grown. This is jast as 
well considering that the use of vanilla seems to be 
losing favour in place of the artificially produced 
substitute vanillin. From Ceylon exports of vanilla 
were in 1885, 284 lbs., worth R3,370 (£224 odd) ; in 
18S8, 1,300 Iba., worth R4,710 ; since then the quantity 
has greatly diminished, and in 1900 only 494 lbs. were 
exported, 224 lbs., in 1901. and 784 lbs., in 1902. The 
effect of the introduction of vanillin will probably be 
felt chiefly in the big vanilla-producing countries, 
Mexico, the West Indies. Boarbon, Mauritius, Tahiti, 
the Seychelles, etc. An account of artificial vanillin, 
prepared by the scientific stall of the Imperial Insti- 
tute, give some useful information on the subject. 
WHAT IS VANILLIN 1 
Vanillin is the constituent to which vanilla owes 
its aroma and flavour. It was discovered in 1858 
by Gobley, and was subsequently investigated by a 
number of chemists, notably by Tiemann, who first 
prepared it artificially from conifern, a glucoside 
found in certain coniferous plants. Since that time 
a number of processes for the artificial preparation 
of vanillin on a commercial scale have been devised. 
Tho first of these to meet with commercial success 
was that of Do Laira who used as a starting point 
eunenol, the substance to which oil of cloves owes 
its characteristic odour. De Laire's process, either 
in its original form or slightly modified, was worked 
commercially in Prance and in Germany during the 
period 1891-1896, without producing any material 
change in the price of vanillin. About 1897, however, 
A PERIOD OF C03IPETITI0N SET IN 
between the various makers, which was further accen- 
tuated by additions in Prance, Germany and Switzer- 
land to the number of firms manufacturing vanillin. 
The result has been that the price of this product 
which was 9^, per lb. in 1890, has steadily fallen until 
in Novejober last it was quoted at 1^ Is. 4tZ, per lb. 
OIL OF CLOVES THE NEW PRODUCT. 
It is probable that all the vanillin so far placed 
on the market has been made from eugenol, and its 
price has therefore been governed by that of oil of 
cloves as the raw product. In 1901, however, a patent 
(tSTo. 8L0,98B) was taken out in France by Vigne, in 
which an electrolytic method for the preparation of 
vanillin from sugar was described. IE the claims 
of the inventor are borne out by practical trials 
on an industrial scale, it is probable that a further 
reduction in price may be expected, owing to the great 
difference in cost of the two raw products, eugenol 
and sugar. 
There is no trustworthy information as to the 
extent to which artificial vanillin is manufactured 
and used at the present time, but to judge from 
the number of firms engaged in its production the 
amount must be considerable. 
THE EFFECT ON REAL VANILLA. 
As regards the effect of the manufacture and sale 
of " artificial vanillin " upon the demand for vanilla, 
it is remarkable that this has up to the present been 
comparatively slight. When it is considered that 
vanilla is employed principally as a flavouring agent, 
and that its value in this respect depends upon the 
amount of vanillin it contains, it is curious that so 
recently as November last good qualities of vanilla 
should be saleable at lis. to 19*'. CtZ. per lb., whilst 
the eqnivalent amount of artificial vanilla for 
flavouring purposes could be obtained for about one- 
thirtieth of this cost. It ia probable that this pre- 
ference for vanilla over, artificial vanillin is due 
partly to conservatism on the part of tho con- 
sumers, and partly also to a somewhat widespread 
belief that vanillin does not wholly represent the 
flavour of vanilla, which, it is alleged, is partly due 
to minute quantities of other aromatic substances 
present in the pods. Some evidence in favour of this 
view ia furnished by tho statements made at various 
times by chemists who have examined particular 
varieties of vanilla, and have isolated, in addition 
to vanillin, small quantities of holiotropin, benzoic 
acid, &c. These substances are, however, both cheap 
and readily obtainable, and if necessity arose it 
would be a very easy matter to mis them in a proper 
