BLACK AND Will I! PEPPER 



has always been considered to produce the beat pepper. The province* 

 where pepper is most extensively grown to-day are Madras and Bombay. 

 Hanausok (Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Harbor, tranal.), 1907, 374) 

 states that pepper is adulterated with ground olivestone*. 



Bengal. Pepper is cultivated to a limited extent only in the northern 

 parts of Jessore. Elsewhere in Bengal it grows wild during the rainy 

 season. " The creeper is planted in the beginning of the rains, and aa it 

 <:r<>\v.s in the shade the seeds of the stout dhunecha hemp plants are 

 sown near it to afford shelter as they grow." [Cf. Admin. Repi. Beng., 

 1901-2, 17.] 



Assam. Basu (Agri. Ledg., 1898, No. 7) gives a full account of the 

 cultivation of black pepper in Assam. The crop, it would appear, is 

 not cultivated appreciably in any particular part. A little, however, 

 is found in Sylhet and on the southern slopes of the Khasia hills. 

 It is usually grown to meet home requirements, and what is left over 

 is sold. Like the betel-vine, it is commonly raised on betel-nut palms 

 (.li-i-ni Catechu), while the mango, jack, and other garden trees are 

 occasionally utilised. It is propagated either from suckers, which spring 

 from underground roots, or from shoots from the stem. When shoots are 

 used, they are bent down into the ground to strike root before they are 

 severed from the mother-plant. The young plants are generally uprooted 

 at the beginning of the rains, and planted at the foot of the trees on 

 which they are to grow as a rule one plant only is placed along side 

 of each tree, and at first it has to be carefully tied to its support. 

 Like the betel-vine, it requires liberal manure ; cow-dung and household 

 refuse are used and applied at the end of the rains and at intervals through 

 the cold weather. This is simply heaped round the base of the tree on 

 which the vine climbs; and to keep the moisture in the manure-heap, 

 pieces of the leaf-sheaths of the plantain-tree are laid over the top and 

 renewed from time to time. The plantation must be hoed and cleaned 

 once a year at the close of the monsoon rains, and in May the manure- 

 heaps are levelled down and spread over the ground. The vine begins to 

 bear in from three to five years after planting, and continues for at least 

 twenty years. It flowers in May and the berries are plucked in December, 

 when just beginning to ripen. 



If intended for the cultivator's use, the berries are boiled in water for 

 a few minutes to soften the husk, which is then removed by nibbing over 

 a bamboo basket. If intended for the market, they are simply dried 

 in the sun after boiling and allowed to retain the husk, which assumes 

 a black colour. The highest outturn that can be obtained from a single 

 vine is said to be about 3 seers of dry cured pepper, and the average 

 yield about 1 seer for each vine in a plantation. The retail price for 

 Assam black pepper varies from 10 annas to a rupee per seer, and the 

 wholesale price from Rs. 17 to Rs. 20 per maund. [Cf. Basu, Cult. Black 

 Pepper Assam, in Agri. Dept. Assam Bull., 1898, No. 4.] 



Bombay. The area under the crop in 1904-5 amounted to 6,736 acres, 

 and in 1905-6 to 7,483 acres, practically the whole of which was in Kanara. 

 The following information is mainly abstracted from Mollison (Agri. Ledg., 

 1900, No. 3 ; 1901, No. 3). The plant is propagated by layerings or from 

 cuttings. When the betel-palms are seven or eight years old, pepper is 

 planted at the bottom of the stems. A long, healthy shoot from an 

 established plant is layered in the leaf-mould surrounding the palm on 



897 57 



PIPER 



NIOHUM 



Cultivation 



PrOfMfffttfOB. 



StMODft. 



Manure, 

 Punn-yird. 



Crop. 



Preparation (or 

 Market. 



YtaUL 

 Price. 



Bombay. 

 An*. 



