50 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 20,1887. 
very great attractions, and unless he be in possession of a well balanced 
mind these attractions, in too many cases, become irresistible, and apt 
to make him forget the main object of his sojourn in a country like 
India. Time in plenty he is sure to have on his hands, and if part of 
this he given to the study of Nature as she appears an her Indian guise 
he will find in the planting districts of that country a field of labour in¬ 
exhaustible in extent and unrivalled in its attractiveness. Such a 
country as that of Malabar cannot fail to have infinite charms for the 
naturalist. The grandeur of the forest scenery, the numerous curious 
forms of plant life, the tropical richness of leaf and flower, and, what is 
perhaps more wonderful still, the rapidity of tropical growth, are all cal¬ 
culated to arrest attention. 
Sir Monier Williams, in his “ Modem India,” speaking of the Civil 
Service has the following :—“ I believe that in no part of the world is 
so much work honestly and conscientiously done as by Her Majesty’s 
servants in India. Even men of inferior energy and mental calibre, who 
in England would effect nothing, are, by the circumstances of their 
position, developed into vigorous officials and administrators.” The 
truth of the above statement is apparent to all who have spent any time 
in India, and what Sir Monier Williams says of the civil servants of 
India would be equally true if applied to many Englishmen in India 
occupying more humble positions. 
The flora of the Wynaad, as may be imagined, is exceedingly varied 
and interesting ; but, as it is out of the province of these papers to give 
anything like a comprehensive description of it, I will content myself by 
referring to a few examples only. Orchidaceous plants abound on trees 
and rocks, numbers of which are uninteresting on account of their simple 
and insignificant flowers ; but there exist also many species of such well 
known genera as Dendrobium, Coelogyne, Saccolabium, Orchis, Anoecot- 
chilus, &c. Palms, including Calamus Phcenix, or Wild Date as it is 
called, and the young stem of which is edible and makes an excellent 
salad; Areca, Caryota ureas, &c. The latter, which is a very graceful 
and beautiful Palm in a wild state, is invariably found growing in small 
groups or colonies in the cooler parts of the jungle, and when in ripe 
fruit presents a very remarkable and picturesque appearance, surrounded 
by the deep green of the other forest trees. The young plants are 
remarkably handsome, and deserve more attention in England. They 
grow at an elevation of from 2500 to 3000 feet. The Cocoa-nut Palm 
is only found in a cultivated state, and is seldom if ever productive ; in 
consequence, as some maintain, of the absence of salt in the soil, but 
more probably on account of too great an elevation. Amongst climbing 
plants may be named Cissus discolor, several beautiful species of 
Bignonia, Hoya, Asparagus, Jasminum, Pasfiflora, Gloriosa superha, and 
others. The last-named climber is found very abundantly in the Bamboo 
district, and seems to be very partial to the cultivated Coffee ground, 
often climbing its way up to the top of the Coffee trees, adorning them 
with its graceful stems ana handsome flowers. This plant would seem 
to adapt itself to any elevation between sea level and 3000 feet. On the 
hot and burning plans of Tinnivelly I once saw quite a field of it in full 
flower, but it had abandoned its climbing or creeping form of growth, 
and the upright stems were not more than a foot long and covered with 
flowers. In Wynaad it blooms during the height of the south-west mon¬ 
soon. A wild species of Musa flourishes on moist rocks on the cool 
Ghaut slopes, and i3 a very beautiful object. The ribs of the leaves are 
red and the plant dwarf and graceful, and unlike the cultivated sorts it 
seeds very freely. Several species of shrubby Begonias are found in 
similar situations to the former plant. Tradescantias, Impatiens, 
Amaryllis, and a host of other dwarf flowering plants are found in plenty 
all over the district ; whilst a very pretty Ageratum is one of the worst 
weeds the Coffee plant has to contend with. 
The genus Ficus has many and some very curious representatives in 
this portion of India, from the mighty Banyan down to small creeping 
forms hiding their slender stems and clusters of fruit amongst the withered 
leaves of the jungle. The Banyan, Ficus indica, although it seems to 
thrive, never at this elevation throws down roots from its branches to any 
great extent, nor forms such handsome specimens as is so often seen on 
the plains. Ficus asperrima is a wonderful plant. Deciduous, and seldom 
growing to a greater height than 15 to 20 feet, and producing leaves the 
upper sides of which are of such a rough nature as to have gained for it 
the name of the “ Sandpaper Tree," and it is quite a common thine to see 
carpenters using the leaves as a substitute for the genuine sandpaper! Ficus 
glomerata, also a deciduous tree of about the same height, produces 
immense clusters of bright coloured and very tempting fruit all alon<* its 
branches and stem about the size and shape of the ordinary Fig°but 
unfortunately unfit to eat. Ficus religiosa, perhaps the most interesting 
of the group, is also deciduous, but grows to a much greater height than 
the last-named species. It is considered by the Hindoos to be the most 
sacred tree of their country, and is planted close to almost every temple 
and carefully tended. It partakes somewhat of a parasitical nature, and 
is often seen growing out of the clefts and forks of large trees where little 
or no soil is found. The leaves are very similar in shape to the Aspen, 
and like it, are ever in motion. The legend is that the God Krishna, the 
Preserver, was born amongst its branches, and since that time the leaves 
quiver in adoration of the event. The bark of the tree is of a pale ashy 
colour, and altogether it is a very beautiful object. Other species forming 
trees of large girth and great height are also found in the district and 
several of the F. elastica type. 
The Cardamom plant, which is peculiar to the Ghaut forests of 
Malabar, deserves passing notice from the singular method adopted by 
the jungle tribes of natives in its cultivation and for other reasons It is 
found only in open patches in the midst of the dense Ghaut jungles where 
the rainfall is the heaviest and the climate coolest. Its cultivation by the 
jungle tribes above alluded to is thus undertaken : At the height of thb 
dry season, when all moisture has vanished from the forest and the in¬ 
tolerable myriads of land leeches with it, a few men advance, axe in 
hand, into the forest until they come upon a suitable spot on the hillside 
bearing a group of larger trees than is to be found in the surrounding 
jungle. From threo to four of these giants are felled, which crush in 
their fall a goodly number of other trees of smaller dimensions and 
saplings. As the trees fall down hill their mighty heads of branches are 
smashed and broken into innumerable fragments, rendering unnecessary 
any act of cutting or lopping. The trees are then left on the ground to 
decay. During the ensuing rainy season the seedling Cardamom plants 
appear above the ground without any previous act of sowing or planting 
on the part of the native cultivators whatever. The plants increase in 
size till the end of the third year, by which time they have developed 
into large clumps, frequently reaching a height of from 10 to 15 feet, when 
they produce their first crop. These patches are visited periodically 
during the growth of the plants, which are relieved from the encroach¬ 
ment of weeds and undergrowth, and this process comprises the sum total 
of the cultivation of the Cardamom plant, if, indeed, sueh a term be 
admissible. We can only fall back on the supposition that the seeds of 
the plant have lain in a dormant state, perchance for ages, in the soil of 
the darkened jungle, which the light of day but partially penetrates, await¬ 
ing the advent of the sun’s rays to call them into life. In no other way, 
I think, can the appearance of the young plants under the circumstances 
described be accounted for. This phenomenon is by no means confined 
to this plant, nor to the moister and cooler portions of the district. Clear¬ 
ings for Coffee on Bamboo land are almost immediately after planting clad 
with a veritable carpet of seedlings of a species of Ageratum over their 
whole area, when not a single plant of the species can be found in a truly 
wild state for miles around. This fact, considering the nature of the 
climate and the annual jungle fires that sweep the country, is a very 
startling one. The flowering spikes of the Candamom are produced 
from the baso of the stems, and are totally hidden by decayed leaves and 
other vegetable matter, and never appear on the surface from their first 
period of growth till the ripening of the fruit, so that all the functions of 
the reproductive organs of the plant are performed in the dark. The 
operation of gathering the fruit begins about the beginning of October, 
and is a matter of some trouble and difficulty owing to the innumerable 
land leeches that infest the jungle at that time of year. Clothing is no 
protection to the body, the leeches in their small and hungry state finding 
their way to the body in a way which is frequently quite puzzling, and 
even tapping the blood through the thickest garments. Tobacco juice is 
frequently used to rub the limbs with before entering the jungle, and a 
pinch of gunpowder will at once make the leech leave its hold of the body. 
But the best preventive of leech bites 1 ever tried was carbolic soap. 
Rub this on the clothes or limbs, and no leech will venture an attack. 
No matter how quickly one passes through the jungle in the rainy season, 
he is sure to find hosts of these disgusting creatures clinging to his legs, 
and how they got there on so short a notice was, for a long time, a puzzle 
to me. I found on examination that the creatures are in countless 
numbers standing upright on the fallen leaves and twigs of the jungle 
ready waiting for their prey, so that when the feet come in contact with 
them there is no escape, and to attempt to stop to pick them off is only to 
make matters worse, as their place is at once supplied by hundreds more. 
Their bites are very troublesome to some people, sometimes festering to 
an alarming degree and producing fever. 
After gathering, the Cardamoms require little further preparation 
before shipping to England than simply drying in the shade and picking 
from the stems and selecting, or, as it is called, garbling. If dried in the 
sun the capsules are apt to split, causing the seeds to escape. The right 
of gathering this condiment from the waste lands of Malabar is a Govern¬ 
ment monopoly, and the jungles are generally let out to responsible 
native collectors by the Conservator of Forests in charge of the district. 
In former times the right to collect any forest produce was common to all, 
and it might have been quite as creditable to the Government had they 
never interfered with this long-standing custom for the paltry annual sum 
derivable from such a source to assist the revenue of the country. By 
assuming this monopoly the Government deprived the poor and wretched 
jungle tribes of a privilege which had been theirs for generations. Other 
jungle produce in the shape of honey, wax, gums, tamarinds, myrabolams, 
&c., are also monopolised by the Government, and their collection is 
supervised by the forest officers, but the revenue from such sources 
cannot be very great. 
Of timber trees there are many of great value, and in some instances 
of great dimensions, including the following :—Dalbergia latifolia, or the 
Blackwood of India, growing abundantly on the Bamboo land and ruth¬ 
lessly burned in large quantities in clearing land for Coffee; Terminalia, 
several species ; Artocarpus integrifoltu, yielding a close-grained and 
beautiful yellow wood ; Mangifera indica, a tree of large size, growing 
mostly on the banks of rivers, and when covered with ripe yellow fruit is 
a very beautiful object. The fruit, unlike that of the cultivated Mango, is 
not fit to be eaten.— Planter. 
(To be continued). 
EARLY FLOWERING CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Competitors with these plants were rather at a disadvantage at the 
Crystal Palace Show because we had to make a round group instead of 
with one face or with a back to show against. It will perhaps be well 
here to mention that for the future it will be very much better if we were 
