260 SPICES 



CHAP. 



in small heaps and burnt. (It would be better either to 

 pile it in lines and allow it to rot down, or to use it in 

 making burnt earth.) A space of about 1 acre should 

 be cleared and dug deep, cleaned of roots, etc. In 

 this pepper cuttings should be laid down about 1 in. 

 apart, 12 in. buried beneath the soil, and 6 in. exposed. 

 For the 12 acres about 15,000 cuttings would be 

 required. In about a year these should have made 

 roots and shoots, and can be planted out near the trees 

 left for supports. As a rule, the trees left in this 

 manner being irregular in size and position, are not well 

 suited for a good pepper garden. 



Preparation of the Ground. If the ground selected 

 for the plantation is covered with forest, this is completely 

 felled and burnt. The stumps and roots are dug out 

 after the burning, and collected into heaps for making 

 burnt earth. Any hardwood timber may be stored 

 for the stakes. In fields covered with lalang grass 

 (Imperata cylindrica), as is often the case in the Malay 

 region, the grass is fired or cut, and the ground dug 

 over so as to expose the rhizomes of the grass to the 

 sun. If possible a plough may be used with advantage. 

 After three weeks most of the lalang will be dead, and 

 the rhizomes that are not are again dug out, j 



As burnt earth is a necessary manure for pepper in 

 most countries, the planter will utilise as much as he 

 can of the vegetation cut during clearing to have it 

 ready for the planting. There is no need to waste it 

 all by merely burning it on the ground. The failing 

 supply of brushwood for the gambir and pepper planta- 

 tions, and the scarcity of good stakes for the pepper, 

 contributed much to the disappearance of these cultiva- 

 tions in Singapore some years ago. 



( The ground cleared, it is lined and sticks are put 

 in "to mark the positions of the pepper posts, 6 ft. 

 apart. J. Bosscha, in Teysmannia (1900, xi. No. 2), 

 mentions a case of overcrowding at this distance, w r here 

 from want of proper air-space the vines in a wet year 

 were attacked by a fungus, the mycelium of which 



