VIII 



PEPPERS 265 



cultivated only on the plains (of Malabar), but it has 

 been proved to do well at 2,500 to 3,000 ft. elevation 

 above the sea and even to 3,500." He recommends 

 Erythrina and Jack trees as standards and also 

 Grevillea robusta. Almost any hardy tree with rough 

 bark will do, as pepper is apt to keep slipping down off 

 smooth bark. An ideal tree is a straight, slender stem 

 with a rough bark and a small head. Trees like Jack 

 trees with big heads must be lopped. For the first 

 three years a certain amount of shade is best, but in the 

 fourth year it must be lopped to admit plenty of light. 

 Without sufficient light the crop will be small, but it 

 is a mistake to remove all shade, as pepper is naturally 

 a shade plant. Besides, excessive lopping may kill the 

 standard. He recommends planting 25 ft. apart, that 

 is a 100 to the acre. (This appears to me to be waste of 

 space.) He suggests planting pepper in abandoned 

 coffee plantations, the old shade trees being utilised as 

 standards. Shade trees for coffee have been practically 

 abandoned, in most places at least, but should such a 

 spot be available and otherwise suitable, the planter 

 might well follow out this idea. 



"Producer" gives the cost of planting at 5 to 6 

 rupees per acre when the standards are established, but 

 when Erythrina has to be planted, 20 rupees the first 

 year and 10 rupees for succeeding years. He says also 

 that 1,000 cuttings are required for an acre's planting, 

 as only 33 per cent grow. (This seems a very small 

 percentage, as pepper cuttings are not at all difficult 

 to strike, and I have generally succeeded in getting 

 nearly three times that amount develop into healthy 

 plants. ) 



Posts and Trellises. In the Straits Settlements 

 and Borneo the Chinese do not utilise living trees to 

 support the vines, but grow them exclusively on stout 

 wooden posts, about 12 to 14 ft. tall and 7 in. through. 

 Care is taken to select hard and durable timber which 

 will not be destroyed by termites or fungus -decay 

 before the life of the pepper plant is finished. But 



