VIII 



PEPPERS 283 



The difference in the length of time it takes to 

 commence bearing in different places is due probably to 

 the method of cultivation. Where the plant is allowed 

 to grow 20 ft. up a betel-nut palm, it naturally takes 

 longer to come into bearing than on the 8 or 10 ft. post 

 of the Chinese. 



There are records of a plant bearing well at thirty 

 years of age, but the cultivator may reckon the vine has 

 lasted well if it lasts for twenty years in good bearing 

 condition. 



Fruiting. Pepper will commence to fruit as early 

 as a year after planting, but it is not advisable to allow 

 the flower-spikes to remain on so early. It is usual 

 rather to wait till the vine is fully developed, in the 

 second or third year. When the vine is fully grown it 

 completely covers the stake, and is well provided with 

 spikes covered entirely with closely appressed berries. 

 The berries do not ripen all at once. At first dark 

 green, they become yellow, and then red. When one or 

 two are red on a spike it is plucked by hand. As the 

 stakes are tall, the gatherer requires a step-ladder in 

 order to reach the top of the vines. Ladders resting 

 against the vine cannot be allowed, as they bruise and 

 break the branches. 



K The crop is collected in September .and the following 

 months till January in Sumatra, and in March or April 

 in India. In most parts of the East there are two crops, 

 the larger one in August or September, the smaller one 

 in March and April, but frequently gathering goes on 

 all the year round. Much depends on the season, 

 abundance of rain, and sun. It is not uncommon to see 

 flowers, half ripe and ripe berries on the vine at the 

 same time. 



There is a considerable variation in the fullness of 

 the spikes. In an ideal bunch the peppercorns are 

 close pressed together, with no empty space between, 

 and all the fruit full-sized or nearly so, and all approxi- 

 mately of the same developmental stage. The irregular 

 ripening of the fruit prevents their all being actually 



