L89 



AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN 



OF THE 



STRAITS 



. AND 



FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



No. 6.] JUNE, 1908. [Vol. VII. 



THE CULTIVATION OF PEPPER IN SARAWAK. 



By J. Hewitt. 



For riiany years the cultivation of the Piper nigrum has been one 

 of the staple industries of Borneo : it was mentioned by the earliest 

 European travellers as a valuable product of the country, and by the 

 end of the eighteenth century the spice was so much cultivated that 

 there were said to be in Brunei no less than 30,000 Chinamen of whom 

 the majority were pepper planters. 



The vine is not however indigenous to Borneo and it must have 

 been introduced at an early date by Chinamen or possibly by Indians. 

 Of late years at any rate the industry is entirely in the hands of the 

 Chinaman whom nature has endowed with a temperament particularly 

 suitable for this kind of agriculture. For the successful growing of 

 pepper it is desirable that each individual vine should receive constant 

 and careful attention and accordingly the celestial husbandman pets 

 and cares for his vines as if they were his children. 



With such an essential to success, pepper growing does not com- 

 mend itself to the native of Borneo whose " forte " lies rather with fruit 

 trees. 



The chief pepper growing district of this country is in Upper 

 Sarawak, but pepper gardens are also found on the Rejang and Batang 

 Lupar rivers and in fact in the neighbourhood of any port, provided 

 that suitable land can be obtained. 



The site usually chosen for a garden is on sloping ground which 

 can be well drained, and they appear to pay as much attention to the 

 facilities for draining as to the quality of the soil. In fact, the soil of 

 an average pepper garden in Upper Sarawak is a stiff yellow clay of 

 poor quality. Nevertheless, the Chinaman wherever possible chooses 

 a soil which experience has shewn to be most productive and in Upper 

 Sarawak for instance he has followed the porphyry dykes : a sandy soil 

 is usually avoided. 



