426 



SPICES AND FRAGRANT WOODS. 



and then allowed them two dollars monthly, for provisions, for one year, with 

 a suit of clothes, by which means the cost of the labor of one man averaged 

 about three dollars monthly ; but this plan is attended with risks. 



The cost attendant on the cultivation of tvi^o orlongs of land, with pepper, 

 for three years — the Chinese laborer receiving the usual hire of fiv& Spanish 

 dollars monthly — will be nearly as follows : — 



Spanish dollars. 



Price of land, clearing, and planting ... 40 



Quit rent, at 75 cents per annum per orlong . 9 



Two thousand plants ..... 4 



,, dadap props .... 6 



Implements ...... 6 \ 



House ....... 10 



Labor . . . . . . . 200 



Interest, loosely calculated at ... 30 



Total Spanish dollars .. . 305 



In a very good soil a pepper vine will yield about one-eighth of a pound 

 of dry produce at the end of the first year ; at the end of the second, about a 

 quarter of a pound ; and at the expiration of the third, probably one pound ; 

 at the end of the fourth, from three to three- and-a-half pounds; ditto fifth, 

 from eight to ten pounds. After the fifth year up to the fifteenth, or even the 

 twentieth year, about ten pounds cf dry merchantable produce maybe obtained 

 from each vine, under favorable circumstances. The Chinese speculator used 

 to rent out his half-share of a new plantation for five years, to his cultivating 

 partner, after the expiration of the first three years, at the rate of thirty picula 

 per annum ; the total produce of these five years giving about fifty-six piculs 

 annually as an average. 



A pepper plantation never survives the thirtieth year, unless in extremely 

 rich soil, and then it is unproductive ; nor will the young vine thrive on an old 

 worn out pepper land, a peculiarity which is applicable to the cofiee tree. The 

 chief crop lasts from August to February. Four pounds of dry produce, for 

 ten of green, is considered a fair estimate. Great care is requisite in the 

 management of the vine, and especially in training and tying it on the 

 props. It is subject to be injured by the attacks of a small insect. The green 

 pepper dries in two or three days, and if it is intended that it shall he black, it 

 is pulled before it is quite ripe. To make white pepper, the berry is allowed to 

 remain somewhat longer on the vine ; it is, when plucked, immersed in boiling 

 water, by means of which process and subsequent friction, before drying, the 

 husk is separated. 



The exports of pepper from Pinang in the last four years have been — In 1849, 

 2,591,233 lbs. ; in 1850, 6,397,733 lbs. ; in 1851, 2,366,933 lbs. ; in 1852, 

 2,112,133 lbs." 



A small quantity of pepper seems to be annuallj exported from 

 Ceylon, which I presume is the growth of that island ; thus there 

 were : — 



54 cwts. shipped in 1842 



83 „ „ 1843 



102 „ „ 1844 



In the Customs' returns of Ceylon, it is classed with cardamoms, 

 and 160 to 170 cwt. of the two were shipped in each of the years 

 1850 and 1851. Last year the quantity was smaller. 



Pepper cultivation has been introduced into the Mauritius, and in 

 1839 more than 500,000 lbs. were imported from thence, but as the 

 shipments have since decreased, I presume it has given place to the 

 more profitable staple sugar. I have been able to glean no in- 

 formation as to the progress it has made in the West Indies. In 



