382 SPICES 



CHAP. 



and fresh, both green and ripe, for all through the 

 tropics it is considered by the natives as a necessity 

 of existence. There is therefore a good market for it, 

 grown as a market vegetable near towns. For this 

 purpose the greatest demand seems to be for Capsicum 

 annuum, though the Malays at least seem to prefer the 

 bird's-eye chili (C. minimum) on account of its greater 

 pungency. Its easier cultivation perhaps accounts to 

 some extent for its greater popularity. 



The price of the garden vegetable varies according 

 to its abundance at the time, and rises and falls 

 constantly, and this abundance depends to a large 

 extent on the weather, as unseasonable weather causes a 

 great loss of fruit from fungus. In a good season, with 

 not too heavy rains, the crop is good and the fruits 

 cheap. 



On such occasions, when the supply is in excess of 

 the demand, the fruit is usually dried for storing and 

 export to countries where the plant is little or not 

 at all grown. There is a fairly steady demand for dried 

 capsicums even in some countries where it can be and is 

 easily grown. Thus in Singapore, in 1875, 2,526 piculs, 

 and in 1880, 4,882 piculs of dried capsicums were 

 imported from India, though the plant is commonly 

 cultivated in the island by the Chinese. 



There is also a considerable demand for capsicums by 

 pickle manufacturers, who use both fresh and dried 

 fruits, and finally there is a demand for the manufactured 

 article, cayenne pepper. 



The cultivation might well be taken up by the 

 planters of permanent crops as a subsidiary or catch- 

 crop, especially in cases where there is a good market 

 for the fresh fruit accessible, but it should be in any case 

 rotated at intervals with other crops, as it does not do 

 well as a permanent annual crop, continuously grown on 

 the same ground. 



LITERATURE 



DRIEBERG. Notes on Chili Cultivation (Colombo, 1905). 

 GUILLARD. Piment des solanees. 



