1 Nov., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 361 
ground from trees. Fructification occurs in the fourth year as a rule, after 
which the plant produces fruit for five or six years. A rich moist soil in a 
bracing hill climate, within reach of sea breezes and favoured by deep shade 
and partial sunshine, is most congenial to the plant, while it attains perfection 
in a light layer of vegetable mould, resting on decayed primary rock. In the 
vicinity of streams and in localities subject to mists and fogs it also thrives 
remarkably well. 
Its cultivation by the natives of Coorg presents several interesting features. 
The people firmly believe that the plant will only grow in places where the 
ground has been shaken and opened up by the fall of large trees. In February 
or March, the cultivators proceed to the forest and map out the boundaries of 
gardens. Having selected some large trees for felling, all the undergrowth near 
them is promptly cleared away. <A. platform is erected near the foot of the tree 
selected to be cut down. All this has to be accomplished in aday. The 
following morning the felling begins, and is completed by noon—for to prolong 
the work further is considered unlucky. Several gardens are thus prepared, 
with spaces of jungle between each of them. Within three months of the 
felling, or during the first monsoon rains, the young plants shoot up on all sides, 
chiefly round the stems of the fallen trees. By the second year they are 2 feet 
high. Now regular weeding operations are carried out. Each plant is allowed 
6 fect of clear ground around it, the weaklings being removed. Early in the 
third year long shoots bearing the cardamom pods shoot forth from the ground. 
They are marked with beautiful pale white solitary flowers. ‘The fruit is an 
ovate triangular three-celled three-valved capsule of a dirty yellow colour, 
enclosing numerous angular seeds, which form the valuable part of the plant, 
and which, if bruised, yield a pungent aromatic taste. 
By September or October of the third year, the capsules ripen, and the first 
crop is gathered, a portion of it being offered to the deity. The next yeara full 
harvest is collected, and then the plants go on yielding for about six or seven 
years. After this, they begin to weaken down, when large treesare again felled so 
as to fall across the sickly plants. Young plants then spring up, while fresh 
stems shoot out from the roots of the old ones, and the newcomers bear fruit 
in due course, dying down after five or six years, to be again succeeded by 
another generation produced_by the process above described. The hill cultivators 
have their own superstitious notions, of course; but it is not difficult to explain 
rationally the good effects of the process of felling. The removal of the large 
trees admits a certain amount of sunlight ; their heavy fall loosens the soil and 
opens it upto the action of the air. The cutting down of the undergrowth, 
which decays and dies where it drops, helps to fertilise the soil and to prevent 
its nutritive properties from being exhausted. The crushing of the plants at 
intervals of six or seven years by means of further felling merely serves to give 
them much-needed rest, after which they come up again, rejuvenated and vigorous. 
Harvesting operations begin in September or October, and they present 
a really picturesque scene, though it is undoubtedly hard work for the 
harvesters, who have to put up with many discomforts and be prepared any 
moment for unpropitious showers of rain. They build little huts in the jungle, 
and in the centre of the floor a large pit is dug, about 8 feet deep, that will 
hold about eight or ten maunds of cardamoms. The sides of the pits are covered 
with leaves, and a circle of stones is arranged round the top to prevent dirt 
from falling in. At early dawn one group of harvesters sets out to clear the 
gardens of weeds and undergrowth, and a little later a second group follows. 
These pluck the clusters of cardamoms by hand, breaking off the racemes very 
close to the stems and dropping them into baskets made of leaves. At sunset 
all return, bearing their precious loads. At night, after a simple meal, the 
capsules are picked from the branches and thrown into the pit—a task which is 
sometimes carried on late into the night. After a little sleep the men rise 
betimes and proceed to the gardens, and the whole programme is repeated 
until the harvest has been fully collected. 
Meanwhile, the women come from the villages to the huts, and, measuring 
the cardamoms into bags, carry them to the drying ground. They are best dried 
