[June i, 1889. 
drought may follow and destroy all that is of the plant above, they keep alive 
under the surface, and spring up again. The advantage of planting well-rooted 
plants will now be quite obvious ; and to get plants of this description as I 
have said before, it would be necessary to allow them to remain in the nursery 
for 12 months, treated in the same way as we did with cinchona under thatched 
roofs. These hints apply only to plants raised from cuttings. Where plants 
have been raised from seed (sown when fresh and ripe 5 or 6 inches apart) 
they should be kept in the nursery for at least 18 months, and then put out. 
I do not think there is any difference in longevity between plants raised from 
seed and plants from cuttings, and neither do I believe as to there being any 
difference in their fecundity or crop-producing powers. In fact, from thousands 
of old vines now flourishing in the district I cannot get anyone to point out 
which one has been grown from a cutting and which from a seed. It is said 
that seed plants take longer to bear; but I have not yet found an example, 
and neither an authority for supposing that it is true. I have already mentioned 
that branch cuttings are not much sought after for raising plants as they do 
not grow up the tree as a climber, but rather grow into a bush and soon die 
off. I have some plants of this description now four years old with a few bun- 
ches of crop on each. One of these is just beginning to throw out shoots 
which are all climbing up an arecanut palm ! So it would appear that after 
a time branch cuttings do grow up a tree. But, from this would again appear 
that its power of producing foliage and gaining new roots is really very slow, 
and that this is the cause of its short existence. The slightest drought deprives 
it of its nourishment owing to the paucity of its feeding roots. I do not there- 
fore think that it is quite safe to try the experiment of growing pepper 
gooseberry fashion into small bushes by plants raised from branch cuttings, as 
has been suggested by some correspondents in the local newspapers recently. 
Hitherto it was thought sufficient simply to dibble the ground with a fork and 
put in a cutting. But since it is of paramount importance to afford the plant 
every facility for the development of its roots within the shortest space of time, 
I think the holes should be made large and freed from stones and other roots. 
For putting 12 months' old nursery plants the holes should be at least 9x12 
inches. When planting out care will have to be taken not to allow the roots 
to bend upward ; it would therefore be more advisable not to pull out the plan? 
from the nursery with a ball of earth, but rather to thoroughly loosen the bed 
and then pick up the plants one by one doing as little injury to the small root- 
lets as possible and avoiding all chances of crushing or breaking the tender 
leaf-bud of the growing shoot. 
The preceding remarks whether or not of practical interest to those who 
are about to embark in the cultivation of pepper under circumstances similar to 
those in which I was placed, refer only to experiences gained during a period 
of two successive planting seasons ; and it must be mentioned that were I to enter 
into the details of going over more ground, as the cultivation was extended during 
several seasons, it would be simply repeating the same story again. But it 
would be expected from me to place on record any observations I may have made 
during my progress for the last five years ; but in this I fear I would only qualify 
myself very poorly. Two years back when my oldest plant may be said to have 
been three years of age, and was only from 12 to 18 inches from the ground, 
where it happened to creep in a single shoot over an arecanut or a jak tree, or 
where it was spreading on the ground in several shoots round the trees, it was 
supposed that a top dressing or pruning would induce it to throw out more shoots 
and grow more vigorously, and this was accordingly done over a small area. But 
it maybe remarked that the experiment was not a success ; for about 12 months 
after when I expected to see them greatly improved, they were no better than 
they were tx fore. It is therefore conclusive that the system is unsuitable to this 
climate. Instead of pruning, I have so found out that it is a greater help to the 
plant to train it up the tree by tying it with some bark of trees or soft strings 
as soon as the- plants begin to grow, and great care should be taken to leave them 
unmolested till they have thrown out tendrils and taken hold of the tree. But 
there are gr«.-at drawbacks to this being achieved. Jak trees bear fruit and the 
coolies are apt to climb upon them to pick, and thereby trample or otherwise 
injure the vine by breaking the shoots which retard its growth materially. Those 
growing on arecanut trees also share the same fate ; it is however not the 
case with vines growing on other jungle trees. I have already stated that pepper 
can be grown on any poor soil, and will now go a step further and add that 
it can also be grown in any kind of climate within the tropics. When my 
1 re four years (an age at which pepper usually begins to crop) the 
bulk of them were only from two to three feet from the ground, while the others 
had grown up from ten to fifteen feet high. At first it was supposed that the latter 
grew on richer soil than the former ; but having found some of them to be growing 
on comparatively poor soil as well, the secret of their success still remained a 
mystery. Just about this time there appeared a notice in the local papers 
advertising pepper plants for sale at Lower Haloya estate near Peradeniya, 
the property of Mr. R. J. Farquharson, and it being desirable to try a 
change of cuttings, as agriculturists always try a change of seed I, 
visited that place about twenty months ago, and endeavoured to obtain some 
cuttings from some of the best pepper vines that I 'have seen -growing in the 
Central Province. These I have now in a nursery which of itself is a thing 
<A beauty la see. What impressed my mind most at Haloya was to see the 
ground iboOti of the vines growing on rocks and bearing crop; and then the 
parent vines which were twelve months old would beat any of 8 years of age 
in Matalr. With an elevation of 2,000 feet, the climate more moist', the pepper 
serms to have here just what it wants. But when Mr. Farquharson told me that 
he got his cuttings originally from Ncgombo in the Western Province, I had to 
look more .it-owi ni^ to know the secrets of his success. I must therefore leave 
climatr and ilrsation aside and look elsewhere for its cause; and I think I have 
jjot it — a s»rr»i which is very little thought of in this country, although the 
gmti-At importance is attached to it by cultivators in the Straits Settlements 
and COHltrfes atout it. For growing pepper the Chinese and Malays always 
select a piece of land which faces the cast and is sheltered from the west. If 
there was anv virtue in this selection, it must be, 1 suspoct, that the morning 
sun is more essential to the plant than the hot afternoons. The situation of 
Haloya favours this idea ; and when I say that most of the best growing plant, 
on Crystal Hill are also to be found in situations facing the east, it would appear 
' lat there is some truth in the theory. On a recent visit to Cotta near Colombo 
I was greatly interested with a pepper vine shown to me in his garden by 
Mr. John Garth, which was then only 18 months old, but in. height 10 feet 
from the ground with a fair promise of crop. The climate of Cotta with an 
elevation of perhaps too feet above the mean sea level, is, I think, more moist 
than it is in Matale, and its proximity to the sea in the west which is only 
five miles distant, always brings to it the frequent showers of rain which arise 
rom the sea, but which as they reach higher regions is dispersed and carried 
away by different currents of wind. The soil of Cotta is the same as what may 
be seen in all parts of Colombo— cabook and red clay, and as Mr. Garth's property 
must have been cleared and planted with coconuts more than 15 years ago, I should 
think the best of its good qualities must by this time have been exhausted ; and 
I cannot therefore admit that any special richness of the soil, combined with 
its more favourable rainfall to be the cause of the wonderful growth of the 
vine I had seen with hardly any attention paid to it, than the full exposure of the 
field where it grew to the morning sun, and its protection from the heat of the rest 
of the day. Now compare these facts with what has been said of pepper grown 
successfully at one time in Batticaloa in the Eastern Province, and the con- 
clusion will be irresistible that it was chiefly due to its exposure to the east 
and shelter from the west. By advancing this theory of an " eastern situation " I do 
not mean to say that pepper would not grow in any other aspect of land, for 
I have seen vines growing without any trouble at all in diverse positions in 
native villages as well as in cultivated estates. But even then these are only 
few and far between and should be considered as exceptions. But then these 
exceptions will not fail to strike even a casual observer as to there being a 
certain tendency in the smallest plant as well as in the largest vine to incline 
all its growing powers to a point from whence it gets the most light, and a 
further glance will show that this light which exercises such a great influence 
over it, is not of the afternoon, but of the morning. The best specimen of a 
vine might be seen to be growing over a half decayed jak tree which is fully 
exposed to the sun blazing from the west ; but if one would only examine as 
to which was the side it had originally struck root, creeped along its support 
and covered itself with the richest foliage, it would invariably be seen that all 
this was done from the first of the four cardinal points. Now having said this 
much to the point under discussion, I arrive at the conclusion that where the 
plant is not afforded natural shelter, it would be always of some advantage to 
provide artificial shade from the side it gets the afternoon sun. This could 
always be obtained by putting out the plant always to the eastern side of 
the tree on which it is intended, to grow, but where it could not be had other 
remedies will have to be adopted. 
Unlike some other products of agriculture, I think, we must pay more 
attention to change of need in pepper cultivation than to anything else. This 
should not be understood as if I am recommending the adoption of any dis- 
tinct variety of pepper ; in fact 1 do not believe that even where one could 
be distinguished from the other, any one variety would grow and bear better 
than another. If, however, any of my j brother planters prefer the " Malabar 
variety," bought at such exorbitant prices as those recently advertised in the 
local newspapers, over what could be obtained in the country, they would do 
well to first see what has been the result of similar experiments with other 
products and satisfied that the money thus given away would be returned 
by larger crops, than the native indigenous variety is capable of producing. 
In my humble opinion any variety would grow in this country only if it 
could be made to grow, and be it exotic or indigenous, under careful culti- 
vation it would bear crops as good as those of any other parts of the 
world. It should also be carefully noted that cuttings, plants or seeds for 
planting should always be procured from a district whose elevation is either 
higher or lower than that of the district in which it is intended to be 
planted. There is also another point which should not be lost sight of. 
History tells us that pepper was an item of fiscal revenue of the 
island more than four hundred years ago ; and if we only consider the 
length of time the indigenous variety had been growing, multiplying its species 
up to this day throughout' the island, the fact must be patent to every one, that 
by this time it must have greatly degenerated, and that it does not produce so 
much crop now as it did before. This is supposed to be also the case with 
paddy and other grains which in former times turned out from the same extent 
of land from sixty to seventy fold more crop than they do at the present day. 
With regard to the latter product we know that several attempts had been made 
to introduce seed paddy from foreign countries; but the results obtained when 
compared with those of the native sort, there was hardly any encouraging 
difference to be found. I think it was the same with coffee. Now all these 
facts tend to show that it is very unlikely that any foreign variety of pepper 
would ever supersede the native product ; but at the same time I am inclined 
to believe in the theory that the introduction of a more robust stranger into 
the existing native family, would improve the blood and give new vigour to the 
latter ; and on that consideration only would I recommend any of tha so-called 
new varieties of pepper, but not as producers of larger crops in which I do not 
believe. At the Agri-Horticultural Show in Kegalla last year I saw some pepper 
corns of the Malabar variety exhibited, each grain about the size of a seed 
of the Jala/pa Merabillen (4 o'clock flower). To the taste it was not so strong 
as our puny little native grain. The Indian variety of the Long Pepper (Tippily) 
also produce beans three or four times larger than those produced by our native 
creeper ; but for medicinal purposes the latter is more sought after than the former. 
In conclusion I must apologise for the disconnected style in which this 
essay is presented to the readers of "All About Pepper." A planter who is 
occupied with his work from the gray morn to the dewy eve can hardly be 
expected to give much time to writing — may therefore some indulgence be 
allowed him not as a privilege but as his right ! 
A. VAN STARREX. 
