266 SPICES 



CHAP. 



these are not always procurable and it is not uncommon 

 for the posts to fall when loaded with a well developed 

 vine. The Dutch sometimes cultivate the pepper on 

 trellises, but these are even more liable to decay and 

 require constant renewing in a hot damp country where 

 termites and fungi very quickly destroy any but the 

 hardest woods. On the whole, the stout hardwood 

 stakes of the Chinese planter are, if procurable, the 

 most convenient supports. This system, however, 

 presupposes the existence of an accessible forest with 

 suitable trees, which is not always at hand, and the 

 exhaustion of the suitable timber near the plantations 

 was given by the Chinese as one of the causes of the 

 abandonment of the cultivation in Singapore in 1896. 

 It must also be pointed out that the posts practically 

 give no shade to the roots of the pepper, at least at 

 first. The Chinese obviate this by covering the ground 

 between the posts with cut lalang- grass and refuse, 

 gambir leaves, etc. 



Growth. As the vine ascends the post or tree, it 

 is tied with a soft bast or twine. When it reaches the 

 top it has been the custom to pull it down, and wind 

 it round the base of the support, when it throws out 

 more shoots, which climbing to the top cover it with 

 a dense bushy mass. Some pull down the vines thus- 

 more than once. The prostrate portion of the vine 

 round the base of the support is covered with soil to 

 induce growth of the ascending shoots. This method 

 was in vogue among the Achinese, and also formerly 

 among the Chinese, but the latter have abandoned the 

 method in Borneo, according to Mr. Dalton in Mr. 

 Hewitt's paper above referred to. They now allow 

 three shoots to climb up the post, tying them at every 

 intemode. 



If a single stem only rises to the top of the support r 

 it requires to be cut back or pulled down, so as to cause 

 it to branch heavily, as a good pepper plant should 

 completely cover the post with a dense mass of stems 

 and branches. 



