XVI 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1910 



ANY BEAM 



ABUTTING ITS SUPPORT IS 

 BEST HELD ON OUR 



JOIST 

 HANGERS 



Made in over 100 listed 

 sizes and any modification 

 to order 



LANE BROS. CO. ( 



The Door Hanger"^ 

 Manufacturers . 



434-466 PROSPECT ST. 

 POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. 



H.7874 



Wolff Sink, Back, End, Apron & Drain Board 



ALL IN ONE PIECE 



Send for Catalog of WolfT One-Piece Enameled Iron Kitchen Sinks 



L. WOLFF MANUFACTURING CO. 



Established 1855 



MANUFACTURERS OF PLUMBING GOODS EXCLUSIVELY 



THE ONLY COMPLETE LINE MADE BY ANY ONE FIRM 



General Offices: 601 Lake St. Showrooms: 91 Dearborn St. 



CHICAGO 



DENVER 



TRENTON 



BRANCH OFFICES : 



Minneapolis. Minn.: 615 Northwestern Buildingr Cleveland. Ohio: Builders' Exchange 



Kansas City. Mo.: 1209 Scarrett Building Washington. D. C: 327-328 Bound Building 



Jan Francisco, Cal. : Monadnuck Buildin.^ L. Wolff Manufacturing Co., Buffalo. N. Y. 



Omaha, Neb. : 1116 and 1118 Douglas Street 



which surrounds the root of the palm. The 

 pepper vine takes root freely in this manure 

 and when it has done so it is severed from 

 the parent vine and trained on the palm 

 stem. 



The young pepper plant grows rapidly. 

 The main vine should hranch freely into 

 subordinate vines so that a number can be 

 trained up the palm. They are fully se- 

 cured to the stem by bands stripped from 

 the sheaths of the fallen leaves of the ]:)alm. 

 The main and subordinate vines grow up 

 the tree to a height of 5 feet or more per 

 annum. Luxuriant growth and free 

 branchings are encouraged by heavy appli- 

 cations of good manure given annually for 

 three years after planting. 



Subsequently, the pepper plant partici- 

 pates in the general cultivation given to the 

 palms, and an application of manure is 

 given for both crops every second year. 

 The best manure for pepper, supari palm, 

 and all other crops of the garden is made 

 from green leaves plucked or pruned in the 

 monsoon and used as litter in the byres 

 where buffaloes and other cattle stand, and 

 thence removed to a decj) manure pit every 

 day with the excrement of the cattle. This 

 manure is sufificiently decayed by the fol- 

 lowing March, and is applied in that month 

 or in April. 



The foliage of healthy plants is, from the 

 ground upward, fairly dense, but in an es- 

 tablished plantation some of the older vines 

 die. If new layers are substituted for old 

 and worn-out vines, the plantation should 

 keep in vigorous growth and bearing for a 

 long period. 



The flowers appear in July and August 

 and the berries about seven months later. 

 The yield depends upon liberality in manur- 

 ing, upon proper management, and upon 

 the rainfall. 



The plant, the flowers, and the fruit are 

 delicate, in the sense that they may be dam- 

 aged by rough handling; therefore, ladders 

 are used when the vines are bound to the 

 palms and the berries plucked. The ladders 

 are straight, single bamboos, with the alter- 

 nate side branches cut off a foot from the 

 stem. These provide the steps of the lad- 

 der. A wooden hook is rigidly attached at 

 the top end of the ladder and secured to 

 the palm above the level of the tallest pep- 

 per plants. 



The bunches are plucked by hand and 

 placed in an oblong cane basket, slung hori- 

 zontally behind the workman by a rope 

 around his waist. The rounded ends of the 

 basket extend a little on either side, so that 

 the basket can be easily filled by either hand 

 of the workman. 



When plucked, all the berries in the 

 bunch may be fully ripe, but ordinarily the 

 bunches are plucked when the berries are 

 mostly green and just changing in color. 

 The berries may or may not be sorted as 

 they are plucked. If they are sorted, those 

 fully ripe are separated. These are soaked 

 in water for seven or eight days or heaped, 

 so that the pulp ferments, and are then 

 rubbed by hand or on a coarse cloth if the 

 quantity is small, or trampled under foot if 

 the quantity is large. The pulp is thus 

 rubbed off the inner stone. This stone fur- 

 nishes the white pepper of commerce.^ The 

 pulp is completely removed by washing in 

 baskets in running water. The pepper is 

 then dried by exposure to the sun for about 

 a week. This has also a bleaching efTect, 

 and the pepper becomes a pale gray or pale 

 drab in color. It can be bleached whiter by 

 a chemical agency. This white pepper is 

 prepared only to a limited extent in the 

 Kanara forests. 



The chief product is black pepper. It is 

 got from unsorted berries, which are heaped 



