258 SPICES 



CHAP. 



experienced men prefer this mode of propagation, 

 because the vine bears for fourteen years, while the 

 cutting-vines bear only for seven years. These, how- 

 ever, crop better, and give bigger berries. 



The following account of the method of planting 

 pepper from seed is taken from the Indian Agriculturist 

 of September 1878. 



Take ripe pepper and put into water for three days, at the 

 end of which take off the skin, and after you have mixed good 

 red earth with cow-dung and water, put the pepper into it, 

 exposing the same to the sun for three days early in the morn- 

 ing and evening : it is necessary that this mixture be neither 

 too thick nor too thin. After this, plant the same in an earthen 

 pot, every grain at a certain distance, taking care to water them 

 every day with a watering-pot until the stalk has four leaves. 

 Then dig a hole at the foot of a tree 2 ft. deep, and 9 in. long 

 and broad, take cowdung and ashes of all sorts of firewood, put 

 it into the hole and mix the same with the ground dug out of 

 it, taking care to fill it in such a manner that there only remains 

 4 or 5 in. of elevation. Fifteen days later, plant four pepper 

 plants in every hole, cover them with earth 2 in. deep. During 

 the summer water them every day, morning and evening, and 

 cover during the rains. Likewise take care that no water 

 remains at their feet by covering them with earth. As soon as 

 the rains are over, throw up a circular bank of earth round them 

 to contain the water they are watered with. In this manner 

 they must be nourished for three years. In the fourth year 

 they will begin ^o give fruit. 



Cuttings. Pepper is, however, nearly always grown 

 from cuttings. PThese cuttings are made from the tops 

 of a bearing vine, as those from running shoots will not, 

 as a rule, produce flowers ; old and nearly worn out vines 

 should not be used, nor should cuttings be made from 

 hardened old stems, but they should be taken from well 

 grown healthy vines of a good strain, and in localities 

 where the vines are apt to run unisexual."] Care must 

 be taken not to cut from male vines only. jChe cuttings 

 should show roots at the joints, but most will develop 

 them o^ickly when planted if they do not at first show 

 them. TjThere are many different ideas as to the length 

 of the cuttings. Many planters make them 1 ft. long, 



