PEA—PEPPER. 15 
for using it; some have a large, tight box or bin specially 
made for treatment of their seeds with it. 
If it is desired to destroy weevil in a small quantity 
of seed, the bisulphide of carbon may be put into a 
small, wide-mouthed bottle, over which a cloth has 
been tied. This is placed in the bottom of an air-tight 
barrel, and the seed to be treated is poured on top and 
the barrel is then carefully covered; in course of two or 
three days all insect life will have been killed. 
PEPPER. 
This annual requires a rich, loamy soil for a full 
seed crop. No two varieties should be planted near 
each other, to prevent mixture. In the Northern 
States, plants are set out from seed-beds from May 25th 
to June Ist, in rows three feet apart, eighteen inches in 
the row. In California and in the Southern States, 
planting is done much earlier. Cultivate as you would 
for eggplant. 
Seed is ripe when pods have changed color to red or 
yellow, as the variety may be; pods are picked off by 
hand. 
For extracting seed on a commercial scale, a machine 
similar to the one for cucumber is used, operated by 
steam or a gasoline motor. The pods are shoveled or 
poured into the hopper of this machine and crushed 
into fine pulp, being then passed to a revolving wire 
reel which separates seed from large portions of pulp. 
Seed is now immediately washed in running water in a 
wooden vat, which is made 18 or 20 feet long, 1} feet 
wide, 24 feet deep, fitted with a wire sieve of suitable 
mesh, set 6 inches from the top; at the lower end there is 
a gate or door to let water out and remove seed. The 
slowly running water washes away pulp, while seed 
