CAPER-BUSH 



173 



is very beautiful and distinct, especially to those who do not know 

 it, in countries where it grows freely. 



Uses.— Under the name of " Capers," the flower-buds, gathered 

 when they are as large as Peas, are pickled in vinegar. They are 

 valued in proportion to the smallness of their size. 



CAPSICUM, or RED PEPPER 



Capsicum annuum^ L. 



French^ Piment. German, Schotenpfefifer. Flemish and Butch, Spaansche peper. 

 Italian, Peperone. Spanish, Pimiento. Portuguese, Pimento. 



Native of South America. — Under cultivation this plant is 

 an annual, although several species may be perennial in warm 

 countries. — All of them have erect, branching stems, which become 

 almost woody. The leaves are spear-shaped or more or less 

 widened, terminating in a point, and narrowed at the base into a 

 more or less elongated stalk ; flowers white, star-shaped, solitary in 

 the axils of the leaves, and succeeded by seed-vessels very diversi- 

 fied in shape, with a somewhat fleshy skin, at first dark green 

 turning to red, yellow, or dark violet when ripe, always hollow, 

 and containing white, flat, kidney-shaped seeds, attached in great 

 numbers to a sort of fleshy cord. These seeds, and also the 

 interior tissue of the seed-vessel of most of the varieties, contain 

 an acrid juice which is very hot or burning to the taste. Their 

 germinating power lasts for four years. 



Culture. — The Capsicum is grown in the same manner as the 

 Egg-plant {see Egg-plant). In the climate of Paris, all the varieties 

 require to be sown in a hot-bed, and even in the south of France 

 this practice is followed, at least in the case of the large-fruited 

 kinds. In Spain, where they are very extensively grown, they 

 are almost always forwarded by sowing in February under a 

 frame, the seedlings being planted out in the open air towards 

 the end of April. 



Capsicums may in some warm 

 parts of England be successfully 

 grown in the open air, but where 

 large supplies are needed it is 

 advisable to have some under glass 

 also, in- case of failure of the out- 

 door crop. The seeds should be 

 sown early in April, on a gentle 

 hot-bed, or in pots or pans well 

 drained and filled with sandy loam 

 and leaf-mould in equal parts ; and 

 if plunged in a gentle bottom heat 



they will germinate more quickly, 

 and the plants will be much stronger 

 than when only placed on plain 

 shelves, etc. As soon as the plants 

 are large enough they should either 

 be potted off singly into 4 in. pots, 

 or three plants placed triangularly 

 in 6 or 8 in. ones. In the latter 

 case, it will be found best to only 

 fill the pots three-parts full at first, 

 with a view to earthing them up 

 when the soil becomes full of roots. 



