348 
SPICES 
CHAr. 
ginger family degenerate in a few years if grown con- 
tinuously on tlie same soil. 
In Kanara borers and grubs are found to cause much 
damage. They cut through the bases of the leafy stems 
and bite through the rhizome. “ Some of the grubs 
are identical with the large fat ones commonly found in 
farmyard manure.” These are evidently large lamelli- 
corn beetle-grubs, but no further account of them is 
given. 
It is said that leaf mould made of astringent tree- 
leaves keeps off these insects. 
Eats and wild pigs are in Ceylon and elsewhere 
very destructive to the cardamoms, and it is said that 
many cases of snake-bite are due to the hiding of poison- 
ous snakes in the clumps of cardamoms, where they are 
lying in wait for rats. In the Singapore Gardens 
squirrels, also, took a part in the destruction of fruits, 
and also frequently ate the flowers. 
For these smaller animals poisoning is perhaps the 
best treatment. The pigs, which not only eat the fruit 
but gnaw the rhizomes as well, must be hunted and 
shot. Thieves in Ceylon are most troublesome, taking 
bulbs or fruit, according to which is in demand. There 
is great difficulty in detecting and bringing the persons 
to justice, even with the aid of night watchmen, who 
are absolutely necessary in some parts of the country. 
This form of larceny is common in many plantations, 
and most legislatures have utterly failed to deal with it 
at all. 
YIELD 
The first crop is a small one, but it is said that the 
individual capsules are larger, and also that the capsules 
picked earliest in the year are larger than those obtained 
later in the season. 
The yield under favourable conditions is very large. 
In Ceylon, Owen gives 150 lbs. per acre in the fourth 
year, and 300 lbs. per acre in the fifth and succeeding 
years, as the amount which may be looked for. 
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