322 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November, t 1889. 
Tobacco crop of 1889 at 300 tons, which at two sail" 
lings per pound, will realize £67,200. Prom recent 
sales, it would appear that a larger price may be 
expected. — Hongkong Telegraph. 
# 
NOTES ON PEPPEE CULTIVATION IN 
MALABAR. 
By Peteu Piper. 
Dedicatory Ode ; Composed by my Nursery Cooly. 
Sing a song of pepper 
Cuttings on the rot, 
Six and sixty acres 
All gone to pot; 
When the berries ripened 
Up rose a gentle Mop, 
Smiled and picked and sweetly said 
" What a paying crqp." 
The vines are on the mountain side, 
The soil is in the valley, 
The standards tumble right and left 
Like skittles in an alley ; 
In the nurseries are the seedlings 
Nicely on the grow, 
In stalks a sick cow 
Bats the blooming show ; 
The planter in his bungalow 
Discusses ruination 
In the clearings the buffalo 
Oh! — the joys of cultivation ! 1 1 1 
During the past three years it has been part 
of my duty to superintend a pepper estate and 
to inquire of my native neighbours the treatment 
neoessary for the proper cultivation of this vine. 
By pepper, I of course refer to piper nigrum, a 
vine extensively grown throughout Malabar, but 
more especially in North Malabar. The fruit of 
this vine is the pepper-corn ; it is produced on 
aments or catkins and not, as so many people 
think, in pods. I may here incidentally remark 
that white pepper is the same berry, only 
with the outer skin or pulp washed off. 
The nearest resemblance to a pepper catkin 
just before the berries ripen is perhaps 
a bunch of unripe red or white currants. The 
vine with even dark green heart-shaped leaves is 
somewhat reminiscent of ivy, and as it clothes 
the trunks of almost every tree except the palms, 
and sometimes even these, it adds greatly to the 
pieturesqueness and rich verdure of this land of 
orohards. If any one should require further parti- 
culars, correctly and botanically expressed, are they 
not written in Roxburgh and Drury ? 
I do not propose to treat of the part this spice 
played in Rome's ransom or the past history of 
India, but merely the part it will play in the 
future of the Indian planter. And it will be a 
great part, I verily believe. Black pepper may 
be fairly called " the spice of life " ; for it is as 
indispensable for an immortal creation of a private- 
brougb am chef as for the homely stew of the frugal 
housewife ; it is as eagerly eaten in the palaces 
of Pekin as in the boarding houses of Chicago ; 
it is as highly appreciated by the aborigines of 
Africa as by the millionaires of Australia. As 
each year new markets are opened in Central As. a 
and the heart of Africa, the demand for pepper will 
increase. The present price in London, calculated 
on the same basis as the daily quotation of M. P. 
Coffee, is 70s per cwt. The vine grows wild, to my 
certain kmpwledg , from the sea level to an elevation 
of 5,000 leet, but it is in those steamy valleys, 
with their rich soil, lying at the foot of the 
Western Ghats, thtt it will flourish and pay best, 
both en account of prolitic yield and pungency 
of flavour. 
Cultivation in its present meaning is a term you 
can apply to no native tillage, is a remark I re- 
cently heard made by a friend whose opinion com- 
mands consideration. If this is so, and I concur 
in it, how can one except cultivation to be practised 
in a district teeming with life "flowing, if not with 
milk and honey," at least with water and molasses, 
where for many months in the year the very 
stones are " all a-blowing and a-growing 1 " Nor 
would the pepper vine be an exception. The trees 
to which it is most commonly wedded are the jack 
and the mango, the two favorite fruit trees of the 
country, yet their fruit is today as fibrous or as 
foetid as when they were first brought from the 
jungle. My argument then is that, |though pepper 
has been grown for many centuries, its cultivation 
is yet in its infancy, and that less can be learnt 
from, than what there is to be taught to, native 
growers. They have a rough cultivation, and they 
are always very willing to tell you all they know. 
But ask them the reason for anything, and you 
are at once stopped short by that blank wall of 
an answer " Cos why." — Madras Times. 
ARRIVAL OF THE VICTORIA BEGIA FOR 
THE COLOMBO FORT GARDENS. 
The plants of Victoria regia for the Fort Gar- 
dens arrived at Colombo on Saturday (Oct. 5th) having 
been brought down from Madras by Dr. Thurston. 
They are in first-rate condition, having stood the 
voyage very well indeed. They will be ready for 
planting in the course of a week or so as soon 
as they have got fresh roots. It is a pity the 
water is not in the tank yet, but it can be let 
in at almost any time now. The soil has to be 
prepared, but there is not much trouble about that. 
Dr. Thurston thinks the tank will be a first-rate 
place for these magnificent plants. Mr. Nock of 
Hakgala was down on Saturday to see about them. 
The leaves of the Victoria regia sometimes attain 
a dimension of over 6 feet in diameter. It is a 
circular leaf, with the edges turned up about an 
inch all round, and one leaf will easily bear a 
weight of 25 lb. Indeed one might think it was 
a leaf of thie sort that Moses was put iuto on the 
Nile. The blossom, when it comes out, is very 
beautiful, and the scent of one flower will be fel 
all over the Fort, we are told. The flower con 
tinues in bloom for five or six months at a time- 
It was very fortunate that Dr. Thurston wa 
able to bring the plant down, as it is of a vers 
delicate nature, though, from its size, it might noy 
be supposed to be delicate. It was brought down 
in a special Wardian case. 
TEA NOTES. 
(From the Indian Planters' Gazette.) 
Dehea. Dun, 17th Sept. — This last week we have had 
4'20 inches of rain. The rains are nearly over now, 
and we are having lovely weather. 
Lallamook, 15th Sept. — Our rainfall for the week has 
been '40 inch only. Total 79'25 inches ; last year 
126'24 inches. About 81 inches is our average rainfall 
to this dat6. Leaf is not coming on fast. 
Mangaldai, 16th Sept. — The feature of the week has 
been two fine days. Rain commenced again after 
36 hours and has fallen more or less since, at nights. 
Tea is generally going back. The nights are getting 
perceptibly cooler. 
COFFEE*NOTES. 
(Fiom the Rio News, Aug. 12th.) 
Our American exchanges are counting on an increased 
crop of coilee from the West Indies and Cr.utral America 
for the coming year. 
A patent has been granted here for the construction 
of a locomotive coffee-cleaning mill. It is proposed to 
fit up a railway waggon with machinery and instead 
of the planters being obliged to send their coffee to 
the mill, the mill will be sent to the coffe; precisely as 
was the case with Mahomet and thy mountain. 
