254 S PICKS 



MUF, 



year 1775 in Sumatra, when, for a period of eight 

 months, scarcely a shower of rain fell to moisten the 

 earth. The vines were deprived of their foliage, many 

 gardens perished, and a general destruction was expected. 

 But this apparent calamity was attended with a con- 

 sequence not foreseen, though analogous to the usual 

 operations of nature in that climate. The vines, as 

 soon as the rains began to descend, threw out blossoms 

 in a profusion unknown before ; old gardens which bad 

 been unprolific for two or three years began to bear, 

 and accordingly the crop of 1776-1777 considerably 

 surpassed that of many preceding years." 



The necessity (as the Chinese have noticed) lor 

 protecting the roots in the open fields Against excessive 

 sun-heat by covering the ground with cut grass, or the 

 refuse gambir leaves, and the healthier appearance of 

 vines grown under light shade, among fruit trees and 

 the like, also evidence the fact that pepper does not like 

 continuous and excessive heat ana aryness. It is a 

 high-rooting plant, and its roots are very liable to be 

 affected by excessive heat and dryness of the soil, which 

 is often shown in neglected, exposed plantations by the 

 sickly yellow colouring of the leaves. ) The rainfall in 

 the Straits Settlements is heavy and continuous, being 

 evenly spread throughout the year. In the great 

 pepper region of the west coast of India the rainfall in 

 also very heavy, from 70 to 100 in. a year. 



SOILS AND SITUATIONS 



.; 



All writers on pepper seem to agree that flat land is 

 more suitable for pepper cultivation than the slopes of 

 hills. The Chinese in Borneo and the Straits Settle- 

 ments make a point of selecting flat spaces among the 

 hills, in preference to the steeper declivities. (Gentle 

 hill slopes can be used, and even steeper ones if they 

 are terraced. If the hills are too steep, they Me apt to 

 suffer from the heavy wash of the tropical rainstorms, 

 and in the dryer seasons are liable to drought from the 



