S. U M A T R A. 
the ihort cunings ; and that they frequently grow crooket^. The cir- 
cumft.inces which render the chinkareen particularly proper for this pur- 
pofe, are, It's eafinefs and quieknefs of growth ; and the little thorns or 
(pines with which it is armed, enabling the vine more firmly to adhere 
to ir. Some, however, prefer the bitter chinkareen^ (with a browniili 
red flower), though fmooth, to the prickly (bearing a white), becaufc 
the elephant, which often proves dcHrut^tive to the gardens, avoids the 
former, on account of its difagreeable tafte, though it is not deterred by 
the fpines, from devouring the other fpecies. Thefe, however, are 
more generally in ufe. 
When the chinkareen has been fome months planted, the moft promi- 
fmg, perpendicular Ihoot, is to be referved for growth, and the reft to 
•be lopped ofi'; and when it has attained to the height of two^ or at 
moft, two fathoms and a half, it is to be headed or topped ; no further 
height being required. 
It has been often doubted, whether the growth and produce of the 
pepper vine, is not confiderably injured by the chinkareen, which mutt 
j-ob it of it*s proper nouriftiment, by exhaufting the earth. On this 
principle, the vine, in other of the eailcrn ifiands, and particularly at 
Bmieo Proper, is fupported by poles, that do not vegetate, as are hops in 
England* Yet it is by no means clear to me, that the Sumatran method 
is fo difadvantagcous as It may fcoii* By teafon of tlie pepper vine 
lafting many years, whilft the poles, expofed to the fun and rain, and 
loaded with a confiderable weight, cannot be fuppofed to laft above 
two feafonsi there muft be a frequent fliiftingi which, notwithftanding 
the utnioft care, muit tear the plants, and often deflroy them. Befides, 
it may perhaps be the cafe, that the flielter from the violent rays of the 
fun, afFirded by the branches of the chinkareen, to the plants i and 
which, during the dry monfoon, is of the utmoft confequence ; may 
go near to counterbalance the injury occafioned by their roots : not to in- 
li ft on the opinion of a celebrated writer; that trees, acting as fyphons, 
derive from the air, and tranfmit to the earth, as much of the principle 
of 
