April 2, 1883.] 



THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



801 



'♦- 



To the Editor of the Tropical Agriculturist. 



PEPPER CULTIVATION ; LIBEftlAN COFFEE 



IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE. 



Udugaina, Feb. Sth, 1883. 



Dear Sir,— I send you herewith the notes I made 

 on Pepper Cultivation at Singapore and Johore, and 

 also the best means, as far as my experience goes, 

 of cultivating it in Ceylou. I hope to see pepper cultiv- 

 ation largely taken up in Ceylon. I may say that 

 I tested the amount of crop by getting a vine stripped 

 and weighed. I took a fair average vine. Mr. \V. 

 Bailey, now in Johore, and Mr. Bagot, since returned 

 to Ceylon, were present, and I had the beneht of 

 Mr. Bailey's Chinese conductor to interpret my questions. 

 The export of pepper, as you are aware, is a very 

 valuable one from Singapore, and there are any num- 

 ber of situations in Ceylon where it can be grown 

 just as well as in Johore. I have on some of my vines 

 ripe pepper at IS months old, but these are only 

 a few exceptional ones. You will be glad to hear 

 that, in this district, the Liberian coffee is looking 

 very healthy and is remarkably free from leaf-disease, 

 and far from shewing any signs of dying out :■ the 

 oldest, over 4-years, is very healthy, and ripening all 

 its crop. We have had several blossoms since the 

 6th of January. 



I believe the reason our Liberian coffee is so 

 much healthier than the reports in your paper state 

 it to be in other districts, is that our subsoil is deep 

 and good, the top soil jjoor, aud our Liberian coffee 

 is all planted in honajidt: virgin forest. In Coffea 

 Arabica's best days it never lasted iu chena, except 

 in Uva, and I am afraid a great deal of Liberiau 

 coffee has been planted in chena, and will go like 

 Gampola coffee did in olden days. Liberiau coffee 

 is much more susceptible to harm from turned up 

 or twisted taproots than even Coffea Arabica, and, if 

 planters who have solitary trees that look sickly and 

 won't ripen their crops, would pull up a few of 

 these trees, I believe they would almost invariably 

 find something the matter with their roots. — I re- 

 main, yours faithfully, T. S. DOBREb;. 



MR. 



DOBREE'S NOTES ON PEPPER 

 CULTIVATION. 



Line 7x7 feet; choose Hat or slightly undulating 

 land. If at all steep land is used, it should be terraced 

 at once. Cut holes 2 feet square by l.'i inches deep, 

 and till in with good soil free from all stones and 

 roots. Don't heap up the earth when tilling in the 

 hole, but rather leave a hollow to catch all moisture 

 At the lower corner of the hole put in a post of 

 split wood 12 feet long by 10 feet out of ground and 

 about 8 A 8 inches square. This post must be of good 

 hard wood, and have the end that goes into the ground 

 cle.aned and tarred. The vines at Singapore last lor 

 ■20 or 30 years. I saw a garden said to be ."0 years 

 old, still bearing well, and the posts that had never 

 been renewed were still standing. 



These posts are the most expensive' part of pepper 

 planting, and I doubt, from what I know and what 

 I have seen, whether they will be suitable for Ceylou, 

 where white-ants are much worse than in the Straits ■ 

 they no doubt, however, succeed admirably for the 

 purpose in Singapore. When suitable posts cannot 

 be obtai.ied. I advise putting in cuttings 6 feet long 

 of either "imbul " (cotton tree), "suriya," "enabudda " 

 or "hikgas." I waa told that tlie imbul or cottin 

 tree is thouglit in Java to be the most suitible line 

 tree to grow pepper on, and I Hnd it the best down 

 here When the shoot from the cotton tree ,:uttincT or 



■•From K70 to K150 per acre— 889 posts per acre. 



plant has grown to 10 feet from the ground, it should 

 be topped aud always kept as a pollard, both to pre- 

 vent the pepper vine being shaded, and to keep the 

 vine from running up tou high. 'I'he cuttings must 

 of course, be put in in wet weather. 



I also tried jak trees, putting in two jak seeds 

 in every pepper hole. I found, however, that the 

 growth of jak trees varies very much : some of 

 my trees grown from seed put in in June 1881 wera 

 5 or feet high in December ISSI, others were U 

 foot. Monkey.s also pull out the jak plants, aud 

 crickets nip off the tops. I therefore consirler cutting 

 of the cotton are better, especially as they give some- 

 tiling for the pepper viue lo get hold of at once. 

 Cotton tree plants c^n be used, aud are easily raised 

 Irom seed. Wlun planting, put three cuttings or two 

 good plants m each hole: lioth cuttings and plants 

 should be 18 inches long when planted out. If plants 

 are used, put their root end as far from the post as 

 the hole will allow, and bury all the plant except 

 the head and about 4 inches : this will cause the plant 

 to throw ont roots from all the buried points and 

 increase its powers of absorbing manure As the 

 plant grows, keep it buried till it reaches the post or 

 cutting it is to grow up. 



Plant the cutting or pl.inta about d inches deep aud 

 shade well with fern — or some suitable and cheap sub- 

 stitute. 



The Chinese make a small mound round each vine, 

 but I tliiuk in Ceylon, where we have heavier down- 

 pours of rain, it is better to cut small drains 1 maraoty 

 wide and deep between tvrrii row (the usual 18 inch 

 drains 1 chain apart must also be cut) both up the hill 

 and across, so that every vine shall stand in its own 

 space, riie earth from these drains will form a slight 

 mound round the holes, and into this hollow all 

 manure should be put. The Chinese never dig in their 

 manure but just lay it on the surface. 



M B 



H H 



