190 



Before entering into details concerning its cultivation perhaps it 

 will be well to mention very briefly a few of the obvious features of 

 this well known plant. 



The stem is climbing, becoming stout and shrubby and reaching 

 a height of ten feet or more : the branches are rooting at the rodes : 

 the simple leaves are glabrous, petioled and coriaceous, in size 5-7 

 inches by 2-5 ins., the upper leaves being unequal sided: the flowers 

 are minute on numerous spikes several inches long : the fruit is small 

 round berries which are red when ripe. 



In most pepper gardens there are to be found two varieties of vine 

 the small — leaved and the large — leaved. The former, being more 

 fruitful is preferred before the large leaved variety of which there may 

 be only a few representatives in a garden. On the large — leaved vine, 

 many of the leaves are quite like those of the other variety but some few 

 are considerably larger. Presumably, cuttings from small leaved vines 

 always yield vines of that variety, so that if the pepper gardeners 

 seriously attempted it, they could exclude the less fruitful form 

 altogether. 



Most gardens contain one or two representatives of a third kind of 

 vine, the so called male. This is indistinguishable from the small leaved 

 vine until the fruiting season when the 'male' produces only a small 

 quantity of fruit. 



I have not been able to examine the flower spikes of these male' 

 vines but presumably such would be found to be unisexual, the male 

 flowers predominating. The flower spike of an ordinary vine is made 

 up of numerous hermaphrodite flowers each consisting of an ovary 

 capped by three tiny stigmas, and a pair of small stamens: the stigmas 

 ripen before the anthers. 



Some gardeners look with favour on the 'male' vines and one 

 man told me that in case a garden had no 'male' it was customary to 

 grow a Sireh (Piper betle) vine to act as such ! However this may be 

 it certainly is usual to And at least one Sireh vine in each pepper 

 garden. 



For the following information relating to the methods employed by 

 Chinese agriculturalists in Upper Sarawak, I am indebted to Mr. Gerald 

 Dalton of Busan who for several years has resided in the midst of the 

 pepper growing area. 



Position. — The best position for a garden is a plain gently sloping 

 towards the east and sheltered on either side. 



Preparation of the Ground. It usually happens that the land he 

 has chosen is covered with jungle and this has to be felled and burned. 

 The destruction of the jungle trees is complete, even the stumps and 

 roots being unearthed after the general conflagration is over : these 

 stumps are collected into heaps and used in making the burnt earth 

 hereafter described. Then the ground is lined out and sticks are pla- 

 ced at proper intervals, 6 ft. by 6 ft. apart to mark the positions of the 

 future vines, drains being allowed for where necessary. The ground is 

 now left for a month or two to dry, meanwhile being kept free from 

 weeds: during this time good drains ^are made all round. After this 

 the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the sticks is well hoed 

 to the depth of a foot and is then piled up to form small mounds around 



