Fiper. ©lANDRiA TRIGYNTA. 155 



plant, (male and female on ciistiiict viiits,) tH upon eNamination I 

 fouiidit was so. AtteDtion to ihi^ tucuui-iauce wih, i tiiaik, render 

 ihe culture of pepper much u;ore ceila;'.i, auci su» ft->s!ul, viz. by ' 

 planting to each prop tree a male and female jdant, .I;; mile on 'l-.e 

 sides from vi'nence the most prevailnig wmd blows; and the female 

 on the other. 



The vegetable world is full of proofs i\\^t \\ie se.iual -iijstem o^ twQ 

 immoital Linneus is founded on the souudest prin; iples; and not a 

 single plant have I ever found in India, that does not corroborate this 

 fact. The Arabians from time immemorial knew, that to remler the 

 female date-tree prolific, it was necessary to bring it in contact with 

 the male; which they do by making a slit in the spathe of the female 

 fioner, just before it is ready to burst and thrusting therein a bran- !i 

 of the male spad:x. I have therefore the utmost reason to concluue 

 the pepper vine will be much more productive, if the above mentioned 

 circumstance be attended to, by the cultivators. I think, if the Malays 

 on Sumatra had known it, the accurate Mr. Marsden, would not 

 have neglected mentioning so material a circumstance, when de- 

 scribing this plant, and the method of cultivating it there. 



Soon after the above description was made, I found a third vine 

 bearing aments with hermaphrodite flowers ; or hennaphrodite and 

 female flowers mixed on the same aments. At the sauje time 1 found 

 that the pepper of the female vine did not ripen properly, but drop- 

 ped while green, and nnmature from die plant, and that when dried it 

 had not so much pungency as common pepper, m hei cas the pepper of 

 this third sort ripens perfectly, when dry is exceedingly pungent, and 

 has been, by pepper merchauis at Madras, reckoned equal, if not su- 

 perior to the best pepper of the Malabar Coast, or Ceylon; conse- 

 quently this must be the sort that is found cultivated ; the other two 

 being, I conjecture, entirely neglected. 



This hermaphrodite plant grow .s wild, willi the male and female^ 

 m the moist, uncultivated, over-run shady vallies,-up amongst the 

 mour.iams; and also upon the mountains, where springs keep them 

 moist. Such places are common in the cliffs of the rocks, and there 



T 2 



