VIII 



PEPPERS 263 



branch cuttings can be used, should they be met with 

 in any locality where Erythrina is not to be found. 

 In Bombay the betel-nut palm, Areca catechu, is used, 

 the pepper vines being planted on the trees in a betel- 

 nut grove, and the plantations of betel-nuts which have 

 given up bearing, as they do after a comparatively few 

 years, may very well be put under pepper. 



Among other trees which have been utilised or tried 

 as pepper supports, are the Kapok or silk cotton tree, 

 Eriodendron anfractuosum, and Munkudu (Mengkudu), 

 Morinda tinctoria. The former of these two does not 

 seem to be really suitable, because the bark is too smooth 

 and the pepper cannot get a grip on it, and therefore is 

 apt to slide down. The Mengkudu is used in Trang in 

 Southern Siam by the Chinese, and, according to Mr. 

 Deny (Bulletin of the Straits Settlements, vol. viii. 

 p. 243), is the most ideal shade tree for pepper he has 

 seen. The Chinese, indeed, who formerly used Erythrina, 

 were replacing it at Trang by this tree. It is a smaller 

 tree than the Erythrina and it gives a better shade, its 

 root development being smaller, thus not interfering 

 with the growth of the pepper roots. 



He thus describes the planting in Trang : 



On the older allotments, dadap (Erythrina umlrosa) had 

 been planted for shade, but as a result of continuous pruning 

 had become gnarled and stunted. Except that this tree grows 

 quickly it is not a good shade tree, as a matter of fact it is 

 much too large and the free development of roots is too ex- 

 hausting on the soil for the successful growth of the vines. 

 On all the younger allotments dadap had been superseded 

 by mengkudu, a much smaller tree and affording better shade 

 at a minimum root expansion. Between alternate rows of 

 mengkudu a row of posts had been run, and in the rows, 

 whether trees or posts, an additional post or posts had been 

 added wherever a good offshoot could be obtained, so that while 

 the shade was efficient the allotment was cropped as closely as 

 feasible. The mengkudu trees were topped above the second 

 whorl of branches, and as a consequence the branches spread 

 in a moderate horizontal direction. At the time of my visit 

 the shade trees were being pruned ; where necessary the spread- 

 ing branches were shortened, and all superfluous growths 



