Mav 2, 1898.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTDRI5T. 737 
tlie purpose oi cultivating Cardamons, Caryota 
urens is sure to make its appearance, together 
with the young seedling Cardcunom plants, doubt- 
less coming into existence from seeds which liave 
lain under the thick coating of vegetable matter 
together w’ith those of Cardamom, it may be for 
centuries, awaiting the advent of light and air 
to effect germination. It is perhaps worthy of 
mention that Cardamom cultivation in Southern 
India consists solely in first felling small patches 
in the great forests, and afterwards simply keeping 
the brushwood low bj one or two yearly cutt- 
ings with the billhook, the Cardamom plants app- 
earing in abundance and producing fruit in the 
course of three years without any other cultiva- 
tion wdiatever, or artificical sowing of seed. Yet 
another proof, I think, may be found that the 
Caryota will not succeed in the too close pro- 
ximity of other trees, in the fact that in the 
.Bamboo or deciduous forests w'iuch stretch from 
the foot of the Western Ghauts to the confines 
of Mysore, occasional patches of evergreen forest 
occur containing trees exactly similar to those 
found in the parent forest but completely isolated, 
and frequently separated by many miles of Bamboo 
Jungle. The soil, too, of these patches in every 
way resembles that of the western slopes, and is 
inlaid, as it were, into the black mould of the Bam= 
boo belt. These isolated clusters of evergreen 
trees are inexpressibly cool and refreshing to the 
eye during the hot and dry months of the year, 
and when the surrounding Bamboo clumps and 
hardwood- trees are destitute of foliage. 
The natives have instinctively fixed upon these 
beautiful spots for the location of an idol, partly 
surrounded and protected by a wall of roue-li 
stones, so that they are all tinged with the 
glamour of sanctity'; and woebetide the person 
who dares, in any' way, to profane these spots. 
I can well remember during my noviciate in 
the Coffee districts, having, from sheer ignorance 
of how seriously I was offending, felled a tree 
on one of these sacred places for the sake of its 
timber, and being pounced upon by the custo- 
dian ot the temple in the form of an elaborately 
dressed Hindoo lady, who first of all abashed 
and confounded me with a torrent of choice 
abuse in the Malayalum language, and then 
demanded the handing over to her, under threat 
of legal proceedings, of a certain number of 
rupees, which I was only too fain to do, and 
thus prevent further trouble. Needless to say, 
this was my first and last icnoclastic offence. 
In each of these romantic spots, and in close 
proximity to the stone idol, is sure to be found 
a group or the lovely Caryota urens waving their 
graceful fronds and, as it were, watching and 
garding the natives as they come to worship. 
Amongst the stones. Ferns of various species 
have taken hold naturally, but giving the im- 
pression that they have been placed there ny 
the hand of man. 
This Palm, together with its congener, Ca’yota 
sobolifera, is used in England in subtropical 
gardening, but not to the extent that its grace- 
ful beauty would justify. I would dearly lil.e 
to .see a group of tins Pnim arranged on ati 
English lawn similar ' tins'- I have so often stood 
ami adudred in t'le « dJs of Malabar. — J LAW itiit.— 
Gardeners' chronicle, Aiiril 2. 
JAMAICA*^ GINGER. 
One of the mo.st readable papers wdiich we have 
seen for a long time is printed in the current issue 
of the American Journal of P'harmac]j. It is entitled 
“ In the Land of Ginger, ” and is written by Mr. 
F. B. Kilmer, who has resided in Jamaica for 
several years. It contains the most graphic 
account of ginger planting and harvesting w hich 
has been printed for many years, and from 
it we draw the following particulars. Between 
25,000 and 50,000 of the Jamaica population de- 
pend for their living ujion the ginger-crop. The 
ginger is of two kinds — “blue” and “yellow'” — 
but the plants arc botanically indistinguishable ; 
the ‘yellow” is the better root, being brittle, 
and more ))ungoat tlian the “blue,” which is 
tough and libr-jiis. These, again, are subdivided 
into “plant” and “ratoon” ginger— the former 
is ginger planted each se.ason, and the latter i.s 
a return crop, secured by leaving a [lart of the 
rliizome in the ground at the harve.st time. Ginger 
is planted in March and April, i'ieces of the 
rhizome, each with an “eye,” are planted. Few 
planters have settieil farms ; they clear a piece 
of the forest, burn the weeds, and plough the soil 
a little, then do the planting. When once in 
the ground the plant appears to require little 
attention, except that it must be well watered, 
and as there is an abundant rainfall in Jamaica 
no labour in this direction is required. Attempts 
are rarely made to fertilise the plant, manure 
being scarce in Jamica, as there are no stables. 
The most that is done is to plough in the weeds 
and cover the ground with banana waste. As an 
experiment, watering the beds with sea-water and 
sea-weeds has yielded good results ; but the aver- 
age planter is quite indiflerent to scienlifio 
cultivation, and this is bail for him, because 
the soil is impoverished by a few ginger-crops 
and “dried-up streams, general barrenness— in 
fact, a wilderness — marks the progress of ginger- 
culture. ” The deep-black soil of the virgin forest 
is where the best quality is produced, and to 
grow ginger under this condition involves the 
destruction of large areas of woodlands by fire. 
This burning is considered of great importance, 
as potash and other mineral matters contained, 
in the ashes are deposited to sweeten the ground, 
while the fire also destroys insect pests. In 
consequence of the many thousands of acres of 
land destroyed and abandoned in this manner 
in Jamaica, the local Agricultural Society has 
been at work since 1895 on worn-out land, and 
with the aid of suitable artificial manures have 
had very encouraging results in reclaiming the 
land. The Society is extending their operations 
by securing larger plots and giving aid to planters 
by furnishing manures, &c. The “ ginger season, ” 
or harvest, is from March to January. When 
the stalk withers and the bloom has departed, 
the rhizomes are twisted out of the ground with a 
fork, and operation which takes long practice to 
become expert in. After the soil and fibrous 
roots have been removed, the root-.stalk is thrown 
into water, when it is ready for the peeling- 
operation. “ Peeling-matches, ” in which the 
planter gets all his friends to join, are a time 
of much meri'y-making in the sable community. 
The peeling is mostly done by experts with the 
aid of a simple knite. So far peeliiig-m.achiuery 
has been a compleie faiinre The ui'eralion i- 
aii fill-important one, a> may be u’om 
ex'i-. i I ■ 1 i'.oi Of . traiisM'i'.o sariaon uS giiiacr 
Fii'si liieie i.s an outer siii.-ited .--kiii, under \' iii.-li 
are numerous layers of thin walled cork cells. 
The oil contained in these cells in fresh speci- 
mens is very pungent, exceedingly aromatic, and 
almost colourless. As this corky layer contains 
the greatest amount of oil and res'n cells, the 
dee)ier the peeling is made so much more of 
these substances are carried aw.ay with tlie 
