THK  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
Nov.  2,  1896.  I 
301 
invariably  situated  on  the  steepest  hills,  the  effect 
of  the  fall  of  one  of  the  enormous  trees  so  coniinoii 
in  the  Ghat  Forests  must  be  very  grand. 
A Cardamom  Estate  is  called  a “ male  ” and  the 
ordinary  method  of  cultivaitng  a “ male  ” among 
the  Coorg,  is  to  open  out  a certain  number  of 
these  plots  within  the  limits  of  the  same.  The 
plots  are  necessarily  small,  for  only  a limited 
amoiuu  of  light  is  required  and  a plot  too  large, 
in  addition  to  adndtiing  too  much  light,  would 
also  allow  of  evaporation  from  the  soil  to  an  in- 
jurious extent.  In  the  leases  given  for  “males” 
the  maximum  size  of  each  plot  is  fixed  at  one-sixth 
of  an  acre  and  at  least  thirty  feet  of  forest 
must  be  left  between  any  two  plots.  As  a rule 
not  more  than  two  trees  are  felled  and  oftener 
only  one.  The  felling  generally  takes  place  in 
February  or  March  in  the  year  and  by  the  rains 
the  young  plants  shoot  up.  They  require  weeding 
at  least  once  before  they  begin  to  yield,  which 
takes  place  in  the  third  year.  The  plant  continues 
to  bear  for  seven  or  eight  years,  the  fourth  and 
fifth  and  sixth  of  its  age  being  its  best.  When  it  ■ 
begins  to  cease  bearing,  either  a new  plot  is  selected 
or  another  tree  is  felled  which  seems  to  give  a 
fresh  start  to  the  plant. 
The  position  of  these  “ males  ” is  generally  so  remote 
and  inaccessible  that  the  picking  of  the  crop  is 
undoubtedly  no  easy  task.  In  fact,  the  Coorgs 
lose  a large  proportion  of  the  crop,  for  the  fruit 
begins  to  ripen  as  early  as  July,  while  they  never 
attempt  to  pick  before  well  into  September.  The 
tremendous  rainfall  not  only,  in  itself,  deters  them 
from  penetrating  the  hills,  but  renders  the  numer- 
ous streams  and  torrents  impassable.  Indeed,  on 
the  exposed  slopes  of  the  Ghats,  life  wood  scarcely 
be  liveable  in  the  height  of  the  monsoon.  As  it 
is,  the  leeches  in  these  forests  throughout  the 
autumn  and  cold  weather  months  must  be  seen 
to  be  appreciated,  and  in  addition  to  these 
drawbacks,  the  steepness  of  the  hills  is  such  that  walking 
is  difficult.  When  climbing  about  these  “ males  ” 
one  can  quite  comprehend  the  feelings  of  a fly 
walking  of  the  side  of  a house. 
The  cardamoms  are  picked  and  sun-dried.  If  the 
male  is  far  from  the  village,  the  drying  takes  places 
on  the  spot,  otherwise  the  capsules  are  taken  home. 
Four  days  sunning  is  sufficient,  care  being  taken 
that  they  do  not  get  wet  and  that  they  are  not 
over  exposed,  as  this  latter  would  cause  the  capsules 
to  burst.  But  beyond  this  open  air  drying,  no  further 
curing  takes  place.  The  fruit  stalks  are  rubbed  or 
picked  off.  In  this  part  of  the  process,  it  is  wanderful 
the  number  of  capsules  a practised  hand  will  clean 
in  any  given  time,  The  capsules  are  then  assorted 
according  to  size  and  colour  and  stored  away  till 
disposed  of.  But  a better  system  of  both  culti- 
vation and  curing  has  been  introduced  into  Coorg 
by  an  English  planter  in  the  ghats.  I am  much 
iudebts-d  to  Mr.  Finlaj'sou  for  his  having  put  at 
my  disposal  the  necessary  information  concerning 
his  treatment  of  cardamoms.  In  the  first  place, 
the  cardamom  plant  is  raised  from  seed  in  a 
nursery  and  the  plants  are  put  out  in  a compact 
plantation,  instead  of  being  allowed  to  grow 
b^.ontaneously  in  scattered  clearings.  The  first  step 
is  to  prepare  the  area  which  is  to  be  made  into 
a cardamom  plantation.  This  is  done  by  thinning 
the  shade.  The  amount  of  thiuniu"  can  only  be 
determined  on  the  spot  and  is  guided  by  experience. 
The  aspect  chosen  is  generally  North  or  North 
West  and  the  most  favourable  places  arc  the  moist 
hollows  and  ravines.  The  undergrowth  is  cleared, 
and  planting  is  done  in  .June  and  July,  from 
nursery  plants  raised  from  seed,  supplemented  by 
bulbs  from  old  stools,  Mr.  Finlayson  prefers  the 
latter  as  growing  better.  The  plants  are  put  out 
at  7 feet  hy  7 feet,  not  deep  in  the  soil.  The 
plants  are  put  into  shallow  pits  which  have  been 
filled  with  surface  mould,  the  soil  is  pressed  round 
the  half  exposed  bulb  and  the  plant  tied  to  a stake. 
These  Cardamoms  yield  a small  crop  the  third 
year  after  being  put  out  and  they  do  not  come 
into  full  bearing  until  the  fifth  year,  thus  there  is 
no  advantage  in  time  in  this  method  of  cultiva- 
tion. The  yield  then  is  about  half  a seer  to  each 
plant.  Thus  an  acre  would  give  about  475  seers, 
or  say  950  pounds  ; under  half  a ton.  The  picking 
lasts  from  July  to  January,  September  and 
Decmber  being  the  busiest  months.  The  first 
crop  always  yields  the  hugest  fruit. 
Before  preceeding  to  give  Mr.  Finlayson’s  method 
of  curing,  I will  venture  on  a comparison  of  the 
advantages  resulting  from  the  two  systems  of 
cultivation,  the  1 ative  one  by  means  of  isolated 
and  scattered  openings  in  the  forest,  and  the 
English  one  of  a regular  plantation.  As  to  the 
former,  the  only  advantage  that  can  be  cbiimed, 
and  I am  not  certain  that  the  claim  should  be 
allowed— is  that  it  does  less  harm  to  the  forest 
which,  as  the  Ghaut  Forests  should  be  preserved 
for  climatic  reasons,  is  a very  important  point.  Mr. 
Dickinson,  whose  knowledge  of  the  conditions  of 
cardamom  cultivation  owing  to  his  personal  in- 
spection of  the  males  and  ghaut  forests  is  unique, 
is  in  favour  of  the  native  method  on  the  ground 
of  less  damage  being  done  to  the  forest.  He 
argues  that  the  partial  clearing  of  the  high  forest 
over  a comparatively  large  area  accompanied  by 
the  rtmoval  of  the  undergrowth,  tends  to  set 
up  scouring  and  that  the  soil  will  be  all  washed 
away.  But  the  drawback  to  the  native  system 
is  the  difficulty  of  supervising  the  work  and  of 
enforcing  the  I'ules  as  to  the  size  of  the  plots 
and  the  width  of  the  belt  of  forest  to  be  left 
between  each  plot,  and  though  it  is  in  the 
interest  of  the  male  holder  not  to  open  the 
forest  to  too  great  an  extent,  it  is  a question 
whether,  with  the  low  prices  ruling  in  the  car- 
damom market,  the  urgent  necessity  of  raising  a 
large  crop  will  not,  and  does  not,  tempt  inale 
holders  into  over-felling,  leaving  the  future  to 
look  after  itself.  Where  a forest  lias  been  over- 
felled under  the  native  system,  the  damage  is 
practically  irreparable.  It  is  with  very  great 
diffidence  that  I differ  from  one  so  well  up  in  the 
sudject  as  Mr.  Dickinson,  but  I have  seen  both 
systems  of  cultivation  and  taking  all  the  conditions 
obtaining,  I am  decidedly  in  favour  of  the 
English  method  of  cultivation,  as  it  is  more  easily 
and  effectually  supervised,  it  concentrates  the  damage 
done  into  a smaller  area,  the  crop  is  more 
easily  and  more  cheaply  picked  and  the  whole  working 
of  the  estate  more  in  accordance  with  science. 
Mr.  Finlayson  dries  the  capsules  partly  by  ex- 
posure to  the  sun  and  partly  by  artifical  heat.  The 
former  is  the  better  method,  but,  owing  to  the 
uncertainty  of  the  weather,  the  latter,  in  the  end 
pays  better.  The  cardamoms  are  bleached  bv  ex- 
posing them  to  the  dew  for  a couple  of  nights 
and  then  fumigating  them  with  sulphur.  Mr. 
Finlayson  is  naturally  somewhat  reticent  as  to  the 
prociss  his  cardamoms  pass  through,  for  the  supply 
is  large  and  the  market  restricted  and  the  com- 
petition from  Cc-;.  Ion,  Travancore  and  Mysore  is 
keen.  Before  p oking,  the  capsules  are  carefully 
sorted  and  clipped.  I am  unable  to  give  the  cost 
of  cutivating,  picking  and  curing  the  cardamom 
under  this  system.  It  is  finally  packed  in  boxes 
and  sent  to  the  market. 
The  price  of  cardamoms  has  been  steadily  di- 
minishing of  late  years,  Ils.  14  to  perhaps  ‘ in  a 
few  instances  ’ Es.  18,  per  maund  of  28  lbs.  is  the 
average  selling  price  of  native  cured  cardamoms 
The  English  cured  sell  from  Es.  1-8-0  to  Es.  2-4-0 
per  It).  The  system  in  force  in  the  days  0^(116 
Coorg  Eajas  as  regards  the  disposal  of  cardamoms 
was  that  the  whole  crop  was  handed  in  to  the 
Government,  who  paid  the  cultivators  a fixed  price 
per  maund  and  sold  the  crop  for  itself.  The  price 
paid  was  from  Es.  12  to  Es.  20,  jier  ni.aund.  This 
was  continued  after  the  annexiiou  of  Coortr  until 
1840,  when  the  males  were  put  up  to  auction  and  they 
are  now  leased,  tenders  being  invited  for  a certain 
period  of  years.  There  is  another  class  of  male 
in  Coorg  the  Jama  male— the  holders  of  which 
have  a right  to  the  produce  on  payment  of  rent 
which  is  assessed  on  the  estimated  yield. 
