CARDAMOMS.
Hilbuya, . . . ARAB. Puwar, . , MALAY.
Ebil, f Capulaga, . . . „ Yalakki, . . CAN. Kakelah-seghar, . PERS.
Taou-kau, . . . CHIN. Heil, If Yang-ehun-sha, . „ Ensal SINGH.
Ellaehi, . . . HIND. Yellam arisi, . TAIL Cardaroomi, . . IT. Yeylakulu, . . TEL.
Kapol, . . . . JAY.
The cardamoms of the shops are the produce of several genera of plants,—Alpinia, Amomum, Elettaria, and Renealmia. The round seeds of Amomum cardamomum of the Burma forests, Sumatra, and Malacca, are used by the Malay in lieu of the true cardamom. A. angustifolium of Madagascar supplies some of the cardamoms ; A. maximum of the Malay Islands, Nepal, and Cey lon, also produces a cardamom of an inferior character. Alpinia cardamomum of the western coast of India in the Travancore forests, produces a cardamom in great request. Amomum grana paradisi of Madagascar and Ceylon yields an inferior sort. Elettaria cardamomum of the hilly parts of Mysore, Coorg, Malabar and Travancore, and Canara, yields the true cardamom, and is both cultivated and wild. In the Travancore forests they are found at elevations of three to five thousand feet. The mode of obtaining them is to clear the forest of trees, when the plants spon taneously grow up in the cleared ground. The average number of candies is about 140 to 300 candies ; value, 1000 to 2000 rupees the candy of 600 lbs. Cardamoms are much esteemed as a condiment, and great quantities are annually shipped to Europe from Malabar and Travancore. In commerce there are three varieties, known as the short, short-longs, and the long-longs. Of these the short are more coarsely ribbed, of a brown colour, and are called the Malabar carda moms cardamoms. They are reckoned the best of the three. The long-longs are more finely ribbed, are of a paler colour, and the seeds are white and shrivelled. The short-longs merely differ from the latter in being shorter or less pointed. It is usual to mix the several kinds together, when ready for exportation. Some care is required in the process of drying the seeds, as rain causes the seed-vessels to split, and otherwise injures them ; and if kept too long in the sun, their flavour becomes deteriorated. They are Chiefly procured from the high lands overlooking the Dindigul, Madura, and Tinnevelly districts. In these mountains the cultivators make separate gardens for them, as they thrive better if a little care and attention be bestowed upon them. Cardamoms are a monopoly in the. Travancore State, and cultivators come chiefly from the British provinces, obtaining about 200 to 240 rupees for every candy delivered over to the Government. In the forests on the western slopes of the Coorg mountains, cardamom cultivation is carried on to a great extent. In
February, parties from Coorg start for these western mountains, and, selecting a slope facing west or north, mark one of the largest trees on the steepest declivity. A space about 300 feet long and 40 feet broad is then cleared of brush wood at the foot of the tree, which is cut down about 12 feet from the ground, and carries with it a number of small trees in its fall. Within three months after its felling, during the first rains of the monsoon, the cardamom plants in the soil begin to show their heads all over the cleared ground, and before the end of the rainy season, October, they grow two or three feet. The ground is then care fully cleared of weeds, and left to itself for a year, and then, 20 months after the felling of the great tree, the cardamom plants are the height of a man, and the ground is again carefully and thoroughly cleared. In the following April, the low fruit bearing branches shoot forth, and are soon covered with clusters of flowers, and afterwards with capsules. Five months afterwards, in October, the first crop is gathered, and a full crop is collected in the following year. The continue for six or seven years, when they begin to fail, and another large tree must be cut down in some other locality, so that the light and air may cause a new crop to spring up. The harvest takes place in October, when time grass is very high and sharp, sorely cutting the hands, feet, and faces of the people, and concealing nume rous large leeches. The cultivators pick the carda mom capsules from the branches, and convey them to a temporary hut, when the women fill the bags with cardamoms, and carry them home, sometimes to distances of ten or twelve miles. Some families will gather twenty to thirty maunds annually, worth from 600 to 1000 rupees. The cardamom tracts of Travancore are almost all granitic and gneiss. The smaller capsules, or lesser cardamoms, are the most valuable. The Elettaria cardamomum is also cultivated in Ceylon, and a species occurs wild. The Karen forests of Tavoy and Al ergui abound with cardamom plants; and, while subject to the Burmese government, the Karen were required to collect the seeds and pay them in as tribute ; but they now employ their time more profitably. When they did collect, they were in the practice of mixing a spurious kind of cardamom with the true produce of a plant belong ing to the genus Amomum, believed to have been A. cardamomum. The cardamom called by the Chinese Yang-chun-sha, the hairy China cardamom of pharmacologists, is said to be produced in the province of Kwang-tung.—Madras Ex. Jur. Rep. ; Drs. Mason, Voigt ; Crawfurd's • Dictionary ; Thwaites, En. ; Drury, Cochin ; Roxb. i. 72.