280 SPICES 



CHAP. 



always propagated by cuttings, and has been so 

 propagated in this region for at least five hundred years 

 and probably much longer. Propagating from seed 

 has, it is true, been occasionally done, and it is probable 

 that a certain number of stray seeds dispersed by birds, 

 or accidentally fallen on the ground, have come eventu- 

 ally into cultivation, and perhaps strengthened the 

 stock. There is every reason to believe that plants 

 constantly reproduced by cuttings deteriorate seriously 

 after a lapse of time. Some completely die out, others 

 become feeble and readily succumb to the attacks of 

 insects and pests. A few plants, like sugar-cane, pine- 

 apples, and pepper, seem to remain healthy under this 

 treatment longer than others. A time, however, will 

 come in which they also break down, and it is probable 

 that this has been the case in the Malabar pepper. 



Planters are always in a hurry to reap the results 

 of their labours as soon as possible, and can hardly be 

 expected to delay by raising pepper slowly from seed so 

 as to eventually get a stronger stock which will last 

 longer than plants raised from cuttings continuously, 

 and this is especially the case in native cultivations, of 

 which pepper is mainly one. Still, planters, while 

 continuing their cultivations from cuttings, might at 

 the same time raise seedlings from a good stock in order 

 to replace at a later date the cuttings derived from a 

 sexual reproduction carried on perhaps for many 

 centuries. 



Root Fungus. A very serious disease due to a root 

 fungus is described in the Kew Bulletin, 1895, p. 178. 

 The disease broke out in Mysore. It is due to a fungus 

 allied to Dematophora necatrix, a fungus which does 

 much damage to vines and orchards in Europe. The 

 planter who describes the attack, Mr. T. S. Middleton, 

 writes as follows : 



It is not the pepper only that is attacked, but even the 

 saplings or undergrowth of the forest trees which spring up 

 very rapidly suffer also. All over the plantations, at various 

 points, this disease attacks these young saplings in patches of 



