2546 



PEPPER 



PERENNIALS 



like Long Red, Celestial, and Oxheart, are hot; others, 

 like County Fair and Kaleidoscope, are mild. 



Peppers are classed as one of the minor vegetables in 

 that they have not been grown in large quantities in 

 any one locality and the aggregate production is smaller 

 than the so-called truck crops, such as tomatoes, cucum- 

 bers, and the like. Most gardens near large cities in the 

 central and southern states have been growing a few 

 to supply the local markets. During the last decade 

 there has been a decided increase in acreage. The 

 census report for 1900 gives no report of production of 

 peppers, but for 1910 there were recorded for the 

 United States, 1,641 farms containing 3,483 acres, 

 valued at $408,741, an average of $117.47 an acre. 

 Four states with the largest acreage are: 



No. of 

 farms 



New Jersey 822 



California 55 



Florida 143 



New Mexico 266 



Aver, area Aver, value 



Acres a farm Value an acre 



1,882 2.29 $149,433 $79 40 

 52,294 



417 

 296 

 260 



7.56 

 2.07 

 0.97 



94,246 

 17,228 



124 92 

 318 40 

 66 26 



This record ignores quantities of less than an acre 

 with the evident exception of New Mexico, which 

 averages .03 less than 1 acre to a farm. 



It is estimated that approximately 4,000,000 pounds 

 of paprika were imported each year during the last three 

 or four years. The United States Department of Agri- 

 culture has demonstrated that this product can be 

 profitably produced in the South, but if the consump- 

 tion is limited to the above figure the acreage must 

 continue to be very limited. 



In growing peppers, the seed is usually planted under 

 glass in February or March, and the young plants trans- 

 planted to pots or boxes when of sufficient size to han- 

 dle. From twelve to twenty days are required for the 

 seed to germinate, the time varying according to the 

 age of the seed and 

 the manner in which 

 it has been kept. Its 

 germinating power is 

 said to last four years, 

 and if kept in pods 

 until sown will grow 

 when six or seven 

 years old. A light 

 warm soil, heavily 

 charged with humus 

 and one that will not 

 quickly dry out, ap- 

 pears to be the best. 

 In May or June, or 

 after all danger of 

 frost is past, the 

 plants (Fig. 2867) are 

 set in the field in 

 rows about 2J/ feet 

 apart and 18 inches 

 apart in the rows. 

 The ground is kept thoroughly cultivated, not only to 

 keep down weeds but to maintain an even but not 

 excessive moisture at all times, which is very essential 

 for best results in growing this plant. By keeping the 

 soil well worked up around the plants, they stand 

 up much better against the winds and weight of their 

 own fruit. Pruning or pinching the tip ends after 

 the fruit begins to mature is occasionally recom- 

 mended, but is rarely practised except when specimens 

 of especially fine fruit are desired, in which case the 

 fruit is thinned, leaving only a few on each plant of 

 the larger sorts. In gathering, the fruit should not be 

 torn off but cut with a knife or scissors, leaving at least 

 1 inch of stem. The usual vegetable crate is used for 

 packing and marketing the crop. 



Insects rarely injure peppers growing in the field. 

 The pepper weevil (Anthonomus eugenii) has done some 

 damage to crops in the South. It is said to be easily 



2867. Pepper plant ready to transplant 

 to the field. 



kept in control by gathering and destroying infested 

 pods. Tomato-worm, bollworm, white-fly and Colorado 

 potato-beetle sometimes attack the plant, but seldom 

 do noticeable injury. Red-spider and green-fly (aphis) 

 frequently attack plants growing under glass. The red- 

 spider may be kept in check by repeatedly syringing 

 with water, and the green-fly may be killed by fumigating 

 with tobacco dust. Two fungous diseases frequently 

 occur on the large varieties growing outdoors. One 

 is a pink anthracnose (Gloeosporium piperatum), which 

 causes the fruit to rot about the time it begins to ripen; 

 the other is a dark anthracnose (Colletotrichum nigrum) . 

 In preparing peppers for table use, handle them with 

 gloves to prevent burning the fingers. Neither soap 

 nor water will soothe hands burned by peppers, but 

 milk will. H. C. IRISH. 



PEPPER-GRASS: Lepidium. 



PEPPERMINT: Mentha. P. Stringy-bark: Eucalyptus piperita. 



PEPPER-ROOT : Dentaria diphylla. 



PERAPHYLLUM (from Greek, pera, excessively, and 

 phyllon; alluding to the crowded Ivs.). Rosacese, sub- 

 fam. Pbmese. A much-branched rigid shrub, with 

 deciduous alternate rather small and narrow partly 

 fascicled Ivs., white fls. similar to apple-blossoms in 

 few-fld. upright umbels appearing with the Ivs., and 

 berry-like edible fr. Hardy as far north as Mass., but 

 seems to possess only little ornamental value. It is of 

 very slow growth and blooms only when rather old. It 

 grows in well-drained soil and in sunny position, and is 

 best suited to be planted on rocky slopes of southern 

 aspect. Prop, by seeds and layers and by grafting on 

 amelanchier or cratsegus. It is closely allied to Amelan- 

 chier, but distinguished by its nearly umbellate fls., 

 cylindric calyx-tube, the perfectly inferior ovary, and 

 also by its narrow Ivs. The only species is P. ramosis- 

 simum, Nutt., a rigid shrub, 2-6 ft. high : Ivs. oblong to 

 oblanceolate, almost sessile, entire or sparingly ser- 

 rulate, silky pubescent when young, %-2 in. long: fls. 

 in few-fld. erect umbel-like racemes, white or slightly 

 tinged pink, with rose-colored disk, %in. across; petals 

 obovate, spreading; styles 2-3, free; ovary 2- or incom- 

 pletely 4-celled: fr. pendulous, globose, yellow with 

 brownish cheek, about H m - across. May. Ore. to 

 Calif, and Colo. B.M. 7420. ALFRED REHDER. 



PERENNIALS tend to live from year to year, as 

 opposed to annuals and biennials, which die root and 

 branch after flowering and fruiting. Annuals live only 

 one year, biennials two years. Perennials include trees, 

 shrubs and herbs, the two former being woody, the 

 latter not. "Perennials," as commonly used by gar- 

 deners, is a convenient shortening of the phrase "hardy 

 herbaceous perennials," which includes peony, phlox 

 and other non-w9ody plants whose roots live over the 

 winter while their tops may die to the ground. The 

 phrase "hardy herbaceous perennials" is also shortened 

 in common speech to "herbaceous plants;" or one 

 speaks of the "hardy border." See Herbs and Border; 

 also Annuals and Biennials. 



A popular fallacy about perennials lies in the com- 

 mon statement that "they die down every year and 

 come up again in the spring." Many of them never 

 come up after two or three years of flowering; that is, 

 perennials are not necessarily perpetual. Peonies may 

 be as long-lived as shrubbery, and a clump of fraxinella 

 has been known to outlive father, son, and grandson in 

 the same spot. But these are exceptions. The general 

 practice with perennials is to divide them every second 

 or third year. Nearly all hardy herbaceous plants 

 should be lifted now and then, because the crowns that 

 give the flowers in most desirable kinds flower only two 

 or three seasons and then die; but the plant may be 

 continually spreading and making new growths, which 



