PEPPER 



Now all these planters are ruined and the population 

 is dispersed, because German indigo manufactured from 

 coal-tar is destroying the sale of the British-grown material. 

 The plant has pretty blue flowers and belongs to the 

 Leguminous order. The dye is obtained by steeping the 

 leaves and young branches in water, and it is finally turned 

 out in blue powder or cakes. 



Perhaps the most interesting of all these drugs is Pepper. 

 The Dutch, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, had a monopoly 

 of the East Indian trade, and they tried to cut down or 

 burn all spice trees except those in their own control. They 

 could thus form a corner in pepper, and alter the price as 

 they felt inclined. At one period they doubled the price, 

 raising it from three shillings to six shillings per pound. 

 This annoyed the London merchants so much that they met 

 together and formed the " Society of Merchants and Adven- 

 turers trading to the East Indies." This wlas of course the 

 original source of our great East Indian trade, and later on 

 resulted in the Indian Empire. 



At present, and for centuries past, the whole world is 

 searched and explored for drugs and spices. Our medicinal 

 rhubarb for instance, grows in China on the frontiers of 

 Tibet ; it is carried over the mountains of China to Kiaghta 

 in Siberia, and from thence taken right across Russian 

 Siberia to London and New York. It is closely allied to 

 the common or garden rhubarb, which grows wild on th© 

 banks of the Volga. 



It is only our duty to remember with gratitude all those 

 long since departed botanists who have made our life so full 

 of luxury and have supplied our doctors with all kinds of 

 medicines. 



The first doctors were of course just savage botanists, but 



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