PEPPER 231 



Although not so costly as cloves or cinnamon, pepper is of a 

 iiiiicli greater commercial value, as its consumption is at least a 

 hundred times greater. It grows on a beautiful vine, which, 

 incapable of supporting itself, twines round poles prepared for 

 it ; or, as is more common in the Travancore plantations, the 

 I topper vines are planted near mango and other trees of straight 

 liigh stems. As these are stripped of the lower branches, the 

 Aine embraces the trunk, covering 

 it with elegant festoons and rich 

 1)unches of fruit in the style of the 

 Italian vineyards. 



The leaf of the pepper plant is 

 i ii-ge, resembling that of the ivy, and 

 n 1" a bright green ; the blossoms ap- 

 ])ear in June, soon after the com- 

 mencement of the rains; they are *" Pepper Plant. 

 suiall, of a greenish white, and are fol- 

 lowed by the pungent berries, which hang in large bunches, 

 ] c'sembling in shape those of grapes, but the fruit grows distinct 

 on little stalks like currants. 



In Malabar, pepper is gathered in February, and has the same 

 jippearance as in Europe. Although the vine begins to bear in 

 the fourth or sixth year, it is not in perfection before the ninth 

 or tenth, and continues bearing as many years longer, if in a 

 congenial soil. 



Assiduity and cleanliness are essentially necessary in a pepper 

 garden ; not a weed is permitted to grow .••the produce, however, 

 amply compensates this trouble, as a plant in full growth is able 

 to furnish six or seven pounds of berries. 



This valuable spice grows chiefly on the Malabar coast, in 

 Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Singapore ; its cultivation has also been 

 introduced in Cayenne and the West Indies. The black and 

 white sorts of pepper are both the produce of the same plant. 



The best white peppers are supposed to be the finest berries 

 which drop from the tree, and, lying under it, become somewhat 

 bleached by exposure to weather ; the greater part of the white 

 pepper used as a condiment is, however, the black merely steeped 

 ill water, and decorticated, by which means the pungency and 

 real value of the spice are diminished ; but having a fairer and 



