62 PEPPER. 



PEPPER. 

 POIVRE ou PIMENT. Capsicum. 



VARIETIES. 



Grossum, or Bell Pepper. Long Red, or Bird's Bill. 



Tomato-shaped, or Squash. | Cherry, or West Indian. 



Sweet Spanish; used as a salad, has a very delicate taste. 



THIS family of plants are natives of the East and West 

 Indies ; some of their capsules, or pods, are yellow, and 

 others red, when at maturity ; they are much used for pick- 

 ling, and should be gathered for that purpose before they are 

 fully ripe. 



The seed of the different kinds of Capsicums may be sown 

 in a hot-bed in March, or on a warm border, early in May. 

 One ounce of seed will produce about three thousand plants. 

 When the plants arrive at the height of from one to two 

 inches, they should be transplanted into good rich ground, 

 from eighteen inches to two feet distant from each other. 



Those who do not want Peppers early in the season, may 

 sow seed in the open ground in May, in drills two feet asun- 

 der, and half an inch deep. When the plants are grown an 

 inch or two high, thin them to thu distance of fifteen or 

 eighteen inches in the rows. The ground should be after- 

 ward hoed deep round the plants, and kept free from weeds 

 by repeated hoeings. 



The Capsicum Grossum, or Bell Pepper, is perennial, and 

 will keep in perpetual bearing in warm climates. In Eng- 

 land this species is considered superior to all others, on ac- 

 count of its skin being thick, and also pulpy and tender ; the 

 plants are therefore frequently preserved in hot-houses dur- 

 ing the winter and spring, and kept in the open air in settled 

 warm weather. 



