IX PEPPER 20I 



Propagation. — The vines may be raised by cuttings, or 

 from seed. The cuttings are usually eighteen inches long, Cuttings. 

 and they may be set out in the fields, or put in nursery beds 

 until they have rooted. The ends of the vines make the best 

 cuttings as they have a growing terminal bud, and they should 

 be put in the ground when the rain falls incessantly. When Nurseries. 

 plants are raised from seed, nursery beds must be made, in the 

 usual manner, in a moist and shady locality. Good selected 

 ripe berries are soaked in water for three days, the outer skin 

 is then removed, the seed is dried in the shade, and then 

 sown in the nurseries in drills. Frequent waterings will be Trans- 



, , , , . ., , , planting. 



necessary, unless the weather be very ramy, until the seed- 

 lings have over four leaves, by which time they will be ready 

 to be transplanted. 



Cultivation. — The land having been cleared, it is lined 

 out seven feet by seven, and holes are dug two feet square 

 and fifteen inches deep. The holes are filled in with good Holes, 

 soil, and leaf mould when it can be got, but the earth is not 

 to be heaped up as it is better to have a depression for the 

 plant. The next thing to be done is to put in, at the side of Posts, 

 the holes, the supports for the vine, which may be hard wood 

 posts, or living trees may be utilised. The posts should be 

 twelve feet long and about eight inches square, the lower 

 two feet being tarred so as to prevent the wood decaying in 

 the ground. Tree fern stems will answer the purpose very Tree fem 

 well, and they are likely to last until the vines are exhausted. ^*^"^" 

 If living supports be used it will be necessary to establish 

 the trees before the pepper is planted out, and they must be 

 topped at ten feet, and kept pollarded so as to prevent too 

 much shading of the vines. The mango and the cashew tree Live 

 have been recommended for the purpose, but it has been ^"pp"*"'^- 

 found that a species of the " bois-immortelle," {Erythrhta 

 corallodendron), is the best. When the cultivation is on a 

 small scale, the holes may be dug close to the roots of low trees 

 already growing on the land. The plants should be put in 



