PEA PEPPER. 75 



for using it; some have a large, tight box or bin specially 

 made for treatment of their seeds with it. 



If it is desired to destroy weevil in a small quantity 

 of seed, the bisulphide of carbon may be put into a 

 small, wide-mouthed bottle, over which a cloth has 

 been tied. This is placed in the bottom of an air-tight 

 barrel, and the seed to be treated is poured on top and 

 the barrel is then carefully covered; in course of two or 

 three days all insect life will have been killed. 



PEPPER. 



This annual requires a rich, loamy soil for a full 

 seed crop. No two varieties should be planted near 

 each other, to prevent mixture. In the Northern 

 States, plants are set out from seed-beds from May 25th 

 to June 1st, in rows three feet apart, eighteen inches in 

 the row. In California and in the Southern States, 

 planting is done much earlier. Cultivate as you would 

 for eggplant. 



Seed is ripe when pods have changed color to red or 

 yellow, as the variety may be; pods are picked off by 

 hand. 



For extracting seed on a commercial scale, a machine 

 similar to the one for cucumber is used, operated by 

 steam or a gasoline motor. The pods are shoveled or 

 poured into the hopper of this machine and crushed 

 into fine pulp, being then passed to a revolving wire 

 reel which separates seed, from large portions of pulp. 

 Seed is now immediately washed in running water in a 

 wooden vat, which is made 18 or 20 feet long, 1J feet 

 wide, 2J feet deep, fitted with a wire sieve of suitable 

 mesh, set 6 inches from the top; at the lower end there is 

 a gate or door to let water out and remove seed. The 

 slowly running water washes away pulp, while seed 



