Ee 
Probably the spare fungus-threads in the vessels are quite harmless. 
Closer investigation is needed to make this point sure. Out of 149 vines 
the fungus has been found in 40. 
The stem-borers and the fruit-eating weevils are of minor importance 
in the Lampongs. 
A pepper plantation is dying out prematurely when the vines are dying 
before these are 15 years old. The symptoms are as a rule a gradual defo- 
liation of the vines. Sometimes a plantation is getting worse rather suddenly 
as a result of special circumstances (drought, heavy crop). 
Dying out prematurely cannot be explained by the action of parasites 
(Nematodes, fungi, borers). The reason has to be looked for in the general 
state of cultivation of the pepper. 
From the different diseases of dadap (Erythrina) only the stem-borers 
(Batocera) and the top-borers (Terastia) are locally important. Com- 
bating these pests can be done by catching the Batocera or cutting out 
the larvae and by pruning the trees after Lampong fashiong, provided all 
cuttings are burned. ; 
V. Dying out prematurely has been found only in the western part and 
in the southern part of the Lampongs, where really good pepper soil is 
scarce now. Especially in well populated districts (Kalianda, Wai Lima) 
pepper is now being planted on soils which are not first rate or which have 
been planted with pepper before. At Tandjong Karang and in the Wai Lima 
district the difficulty to get suitable land for pepper is caused primarily by 
the number and extension of European estates. In the Wai Lima district 
20 villages over a distance of not yet 20 miles have only at their disposition 
a strip of land from 1—3 K.M. deep. This must be insufficient, as the 
pepper cultivation in the Lampongs can be compared with the tabacco cul- 
tivation in Deli as to its want of land. 
The peppercultivation of Chinese and Bankanese at Banka (see Meded. 19) 
proves, that splendid pepper-vines are possible on soils where pepper re- 
gularly is dying out before 10 years old, provided tillage, manuring and 
other measures are closely attended to. 
In British India the conclusion has been the same: when there is no 
virgin soil left, pepper cannot survive as a crop unless properly cultivated, 
and especially manured. 
In Appendix V an outline is given of experiments which shall be ta- 
ken to make sure of the improvennents of the cultivation methods which are 
needed. 
VL. Appendix 1—lV contain several items not directly relating to pepper 
in the Lampongs, but surely worth knowing when these investigations are 
to be continuated. 
