250 SPICES 



CHAP. 



fullest and most pungent aroma of any. Trang pepper, 

 too, stands the milling process in London better than any 

 other ; the local Malay Peninsula varieties being apt to 

 break up, being too brittle, and for these reasons Trang 

 pepper always obtains the highest price in the market. 



Sumatran Varieties. Marsden, in The History of 

 Sumatra, mentions three varieties cultivated by the 

 natives, Lada Kawur, Lada Manna, and Lada Jambi. 

 The first of these, also known as Lampoon (Lampong), 

 is the strongest he says, and bears the largest leaf and 

 fruit, is slower than the next in coming to perfection, 

 but of much longer duration. The fruits of the second 

 variety, Lada Manna, are somewhat smaller, and its 

 peculiarity is that it bears soon, and in large quantities, 

 but seldom passes the third or fourth year crop. The 

 Jambi, which had, he says, fallen into disrepute, is the 

 smallest in leaf and fruit, very short-lived, and not 

 without difficulty trained to its post. 



Dwarf Pepper. A non-climbing pepper of erect 

 habit, and dwarfed, is described by Mr. W. E. Broadway, 

 the Curator of the Botanic station in Grenada, West 

 Indies, in the Agricultural News (vol. ii. p. 69). He 

 says that this form never fails to produce a good crop, 

 and its low habit is very convenient for gathering 

 the fruit, while the climbing pepper fruits irregularly. 

 Though this is an interesting variety, and might, under 

 special circumstances, be used profitably, one would 

 hardly be inclined to recommend it for cultivation. It 

 is obvious that this dwarf pepper, however closely packed 

 on the ground, could not give as big a return from an 

 acre as a good vine growing from 12 to 20 ft. tall. 



HISTORY 



Pepper is one of the earliest known spices in the 

 world, and was formerly the staple commodity of 

 trade between India and Europe. It is mentioned by 

 Theophrastus in the fourth century B.C., who mentions 

 two kinds, apparently black pepper and long pepper. 



