306 SPICES 



CHAP. 



distance should, be greater, perhaps 9 ft., as the roots would be 

 better nourished and the produce more abundant. 



When a plantation is to be commenced, the large timber is 

 cut down by Malays at the rate of 5 dollars per Oorlong. 

 The remaining labour is performed by Chinese, who dig out 

 the roots, burn them and the trunks, pulverise and level the 

 soil, plant the pepper vines and the trees which are to support 

 them. It is usual to contract with them for making the 

 plantation in this manner, and taking care of it for three years, 

 at the end of which time it is in bearing at a rate of 225 dollars 

 for 1,000 plants. The sum is liquidated by instalments, as the 

 contractor requires it, to pay his workmen. Something more 

 than one -third is paid in the first year, because the labour 

 is the greater ; but about one-fourth of the whole is generally 

 reserved till the contract is completed and the plantation 

 delivered over. This does not include the price of the plants, 

 or cuttings, which are found by the proprietor of the plantation. 



The vine is first made to climb on a pole. At the end of 

 ten or twelve months it is detached from the pole to undergo 

 the process called laying down. A circular hole, about 18 in. 

 in diameter, is dug at one side of a plant. At the bottom of this 

 the plant is carried round in a circle, and the end of it is brought 

 to the tree which is in future to form its support. The depth 

 of the hole in which the vines are laid down varies according 

 to the situation and nature of the soil ; and much judgment, to 

 be acquired by practice, is requisite to adapt it to these 

 circumstances. In high and dry situations the depth must be 

 considerably greater than in those which are low and moist. 

 Too little depth in the former would expose the roots to be 

 parched in dry seasons; and too much in the latter would 

 occasion them to rot from excess of moisture. 



The trees used for supporting the pepper vines on Prince of 

 Wales Island are the Morinda citrifolia (Munkoodu) and the 

 Erythrina corallodendron (Dudup). The Chinese planters allege 

 that the pepper supported by the Erythrina thrives better and 

 lasts longer than that supported by the Morinda. One instance 

 I heard quoted in proof of this assertion was a plantation 

 which had long been neglected and overgrown with weeds. 

 When it came to be examined the vines which had grown on 

 the Morinda were all dead, while those on the Erythrina were 

 still strong and productive. The reason assigned by the planters 

 for the difference is that the roots of the Erythrina do not 

 spread so much or penetrate so deep as those of the Morinda ; 

 whence they interfere less with the pepper, and do not draw so 

 much nourishment from the earth. 



