January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



471 



known, the produce of the same vines, and the dif- 

 ference is simply due to 'he removil of the outer or 

 darker |.ortion of the oorus in the former : white 

 pepper being the same as black but less the daik 

 skin. This euvelopi*, or outer coating, used always to 

 be removed abroad, and by i» process which, if it be 

 aa is reported, was by no means an agreeable one 

 to reflect upon. Some j'eara back, owing to specul- 

 ation, white pepper was driven up to famine prices. 

 It w.isthen found that black pepper could be husked 

 here by suitable machinery, and that the reJultant 

 white pepper had a preferable colour, when ground, 

 to that which was niad^ abroad. Consequently the pro- 

 cess known as " decorticating, " that is, of removing 

 the outer husk from black pepper, and of leaving 

 only the central white portion of the corns, has become 

 general here. The question then arose of what was 

 to be done with the large proportion of black husks 

 which were removed by decortication, and it has been 

 solved by simply grinding them up with whole black 

 pepper, and selling the produce as ground black 

 pepper. The white pepper prepared in England by 

 decortication fetches such a high price, that the re- 

 fuse husks can be sold at an excetdingly low rate, 

 and then mixed off, and used to reduce the selling 

 jjrice of ground Black Pepper far below the original 

 cost of the raw material. 



The question whethe' such a practice is allowable 

 is one of degree, for black pepper has always been 

 ground with its husk, but the mixture, in the process 

 of grinding, of a larger proportion of husk than ap- 

 pertains to the pepper, might be caried on to a 

 point, at which the product might be more rightly 

 termed ground Mack pepper husks. Still, the pract- 

 ice could scarcely be called adviltcration, as the 

 busk has pungent qualities, serviceable for the uses 

 to whicii pepper is put, and it is not proved that 

 the inside of the grain is more useful than the out- 

 side. Indeed, a large number of persons much prefer 

 black to white pepper. It is also to be said in favcur 

 of the husks in question, that decortication cannot be 

 well practised with the very lowest qualities of black 

 pepper, so that the huskn are from a superior qual- 

 ity of pepper to that which is often ground. Still, 

 allowing all this, th-re is much to bo said on the 

 other side. A wheat miller may with perfect pro- 

 priety sift his flour into various degrees of whiteness, 

 and offer it as firsts, seconds, and thirds, mixing oflF a 

 portion of the bran ; but if he ground up his bran by 

 some new process so as to make it resemble flour, for 

 which he passed it off, be would be doing something 

 more nearly resembling what has recently been done 

 with pepper. The spice grinder, in the same wav, 

 may sort out his pepper into various degrees of fine- 

 ness or colour, and ofi'. r them at proportionate prices 

 But if he exaggerated the operation, the question would 

 certainly arise whether he would be justified in grinding 

 the husks, and then, by implication, selling them as 

 the produce of the entire peppercorn— for such ground 

 black pepper is certainly supposed to be. 



It i» well to remember, if any public question arises 

 as to these matters, that the wh-le consequences would 

 fall, not upon the wholesale dealer, but upon the rntcil 

 grocers. If the latter offer as pepper, that is, as the 

 produce of the entire corn, a mat^iri^il containing:, say 

 50 to 80 per cent, of the husks or shells, the fact is 

 sure to be detected by the chemical tests now in vooue 

 esp-ciatly as the proportion of dirt always contain-d in 

 unscrf eued pej p-jr, even of the fine pepper used for 

 decortif.-ating, is to be found entirely in the husks. 

 The law would find out the misrepresentation, by dif- 

 coverina; the di/fsrin.!/ proportions in the constituents 

 of ground pepper and gpound husks, and not improb- 

 ably arrive at the conclusion that there was aduller- 

 aiion, when, strictly speaking, there was none. It is 

 true that it is not believed that anyoQerhas as yet gone 



so far, as to grind busks only and call them pepper, 

 but, judging from the prices quoted, a good deal of pro- 

 gress haa been made in that direction. Oi: course, 

 pepper ground whole, as has been said above, must 

 include some hn^-ks, and therefore all these points are 

 questions of degree. The grocers, however, run a 

 serious risk in buying very low-priced ground pep- 

 pers, and considering the small importance of the trivial 

 extra pr fit, even to those in a large way of business, 

 it is surely to their interest to diFcourage to the utmost 

 all such departures from an old-established practice. 

 Already not only are husks very freely employed to 

 "reduce" ccst, but long pepper, a totally different com- 

 modity, i' added to t'le product, to ''improve' colour. 

 In fact, owing to the demand caused by its being mixed 

 in this way, long pepper has recently risen about 9s. 

 per cwt. If the grocers wish to avoid another ques- 

 tion between them and the analysts, like that of 

 coffee aid chicory, or that of mustard and sago flour, 

 or other ingredients they should decline to buy any 

 pe[iper but that ground from the whole corns ; for 

 the gain of the substitution of the one for the other 

 would not be worth considering to any individual re- 

 tailer. On the other hand, the wholesale spice grinder, 

 if unscrupulous, would have a wide field opened to him 

 by such commodities becoming current in the trade. At 

 tiie present moment the lowest and dirtiest whole 

 black pepper costs in the market fi^d. per It. The cost 

 of grinding, the loss of weight, and putting into barrels, 

 is at least Jd. per lb., so that real pepper cannot be sold, 

 without any profit, under 6Jd. per lb. wholesale. Husks, 

 of which 1,400 bags were disposed of last week at pub- 

 lic sale, cost 2|d. per lb ready ground for, presumably, 

 the commonest ; and about 4|d. for the roughly broken 

 husks and pepper. The latter would cost, ground, 

 about 4Jd per lb., filled into barrels. Mixed half and 

 half with pepper ground from the whole corns, the 

 commonest of the above could be sold with a profit 

 at 5d. per lb. Of course there can be no objection to 

 husks being sold, either wholesale or retail, as "Ground 

 Pepper Husks," since there is nothing that unfits them 

 for siniilar uses to pepper, and they certainly coutaia 

 nothing injurious; but the grocers should be careful not 

 to buy or sell them as simply ground pepper. — Produce 

 Markets' Review. 



EEPOET ON THE DUTCH CIXCHOXA ENTERPEIZE 

 IX JAVA FOE THE 3rd QUARTER 1883. 

 (Translated fo-r tite " Ceylon Observer.") 

 The past quarter w.-is again marked by a severe drought. 

 At the end of August and beginning of September some 

 smart showers of rain fell, which indeed caused a brief 

 intermission in the gathering f bark, but which greatly bene- 

 fited tlie plantations, especially the young gardens. The 

 harvesting has been steadily carried on. Advantage was 

 chiefly taken of the intense drought, in the abseuce of the 

 necessary means for artificial drj-ing of bark, for the drying 

 of old plantations of inferior sorts of ciucbona, and especi- 

 ally of those gardens which were getting into a drooping 

 condition. During the past quarter 147,390 Amst. lb. of 

 bark were dispatched to Tjikao. The produce of the harvest 

 of 1883 gathered and disp.itched by the end of this quarter 

 therefore reached the important figure of 306,653 Ams . lb. 

 On account of the steadily increasing outturn of cinchona 

 bark from the {government plantatious, the amount made 

 available by art. 192 of the budget proved insufficient by 

 a long way. In the month of August the sum fixed by the 

 budget^ — f.39,000 — was already entirely used up. Convinced 

 of the productive nature of the expenditure, the needful 

 funds were granted with open hand, for further extension. 

 The increased expenditure upon the ciuchona culture is due 

 in a lar;re measure to a more careful system of cultivation, 

 which is being more and more practised, and the great 

 advantages of which have been so apparent the last few 

 years. (Undoubtedly, the expenditure wiil be amply made 

 up in another year by increased production. The supply 

 of labor was more than suHicient. A long drought, which 

 hindered the growth of a second crop, and a small coffee 



