476 



PEPPER. 



sliipped on the average 60,000 piculs annually. In 1867 there was 

 exported from the Straits Settlements 4,831,375 lbs., valued at 

 285,145/. Our direct imj)orts of pepper from Singapore in the last 

 five years have been as follows : — 



Year. 



Quantity. 



Value. 



Year. 



Quantity. 



Value. 



1871 

 1872 

 1873 



lbs. 



21,820,600 

 25,009,813 

 24,629,444 



£ 



478,965 

 681,569 

 769,191 



1874 

 1875 



lbs. 



17,503,343 

 27,677,719 



£ 



507,790 

 622,865 



The pepper vine (Pzper nigrum) is indigenous to the forests of 

 Malabar and Travancore. For centuries pepper has been an article 

 of exportation to European countries from the western coast of India. 

 Although a product of many countries in the east, that which comes 

 from Malabar is acknowledged to be the best. In 1874 there were 

 23,179 pepper vines scattered over the territory of French India. 



Its cultivation is very simple, and is effected by cuttings or suckers 

 put down before the commencement of the rains in June, in a rich and 

 tolerably moist soil. In three years it begins to bear, each plant 

 yielding on an average 2 lbs. of pepper per annum up to fifteen or 

 twenty years, after which they begin to decline. The crop is gathered 

 in March or April ; the fruit is plucked when not quite ripe, and 

 usually dried on mats in the open air. White pepper differs from 

 black only in being deprived of the outer skin by a short maceration 

 in pure water and subsequent gentle rubbing ; it is somewhat smaller, 

 of a greyish white colour, and with a less aromatic taste. 



The small round berry-like fruit grows somewhat loosely, to the 

 number of twenty to thirty, on a common pendulous fruit-stalk. They 

 are at first green, then become red, and if allowed to ripen, yellow ; 

 but they are gathered before complete maturity, and by drying in that 

 state t irn blackish-grey or brown. When one or two berries at the 

 base of the spike begin to turn red the whole spike is pinched off. Next 

 day the berries are rubbed off with the hands, picked clean and dried 

 for three days in the sun, or in bamboo baskets near a gentle fire. 



The plant is capable of growing to a height of 20 or 30 feet, 

 but for the sake of convenience it is usually kept low, and is often 

 trained on poles. In places where no vines occur naturally, the plant 

 is propagated by setting slips near the roots of the trees on which it 

 is to climb. An acre of land will bear 2500 plants, and as they require 

 but little care, the cost of cultivating and bringing into bearing one 

 acre does not exceed 4Z. at the most, and as the annual yield when the 

 plants come into bearing is worth upwards of 80Z., the investment is a 

 very profitable one. 



The pepper vine is hardy and easily cultivated, and as its produce 

 is of such great commercial importance, it may be well worth trying 

 whether it could not be successfully grown in other localities under 

 congenial conditions of climate and soil. The choice of a proper site 

 for the plantation is a consideration of the first importance. Level 

 ground lying along the banks of rivers and rivulets is to be preferred, 



