254 
ON THE CULTURE OF PEPPER AND RICE. 
Like ivy, it is encourag-ed by support to throw out bearing shoots. If left in 
its natural state, it climbs to twenty or twenty-five feet high ; but it is more 
fruitful when not allowed to attain this height. Restrained in its growth to from 
twelve to fifteen feet high, it bears both foliage and flowers within a foot of the 
ground ; but in the former case the lower part of the stem is entirely devoid of 
these. 
In order to give to the pepper vines the support they require, it is usual to plant 
some other trees with them for that purpose. 
The Iaca tree {Artocarpus integrifoUa) is selected in Malabar thus to lend 
its support, since the sanxe soil is equally adapted to the growth of both plants. In 
Sumatra a thorny tree, called by the natives ching-kariang {Erytliriora corallo- 
dendron) is employed. In Borneo the vines are supported like hops, by poles ; but 
there is a great disadvantage attendant on this method, as the poles thus exposed 
decay at the end of two or three years, while the plants last many years, and they 
are much injured in the removal of the old poles, and the placing of the new ones. 
Besides this, the use of poles has another disadvantage in the absence of foliage, 
which during the dry season is of service in sheltering from the too ardent rays of 
the sun. 
When a piece of ground is to be converted into a pepper plantation it is marked 
out by means of a line into regular squares, having their sides about six feet, the 
intervals at which the plants are intended to be placed from each other. The 
points of intersection are noted by slight stakes, and at each of these points a tree 
intended for the prop, is planted ; for this purpose, cuttings of about two feet long 
are put into the ground a span deep ; sometimes cuttings six feet long are used, 
but these often fail, are not so vigorous as the shorter ones, and generally grow 
crooked. 
When the shoots of the ching-kariang are twelve or fifteen feet high — a height 
they generally attain during the second year of their growth — they are lopped, and 
not allowed to grow much above this altitude. The branches are lopped annually 
at the commencement of the rainy season in November, leaving little more than the 
stem, or otherwise the droppings from the leaves might injure the vines. 
The usual mode of propagating the pepper plant is by cuttings of a foot or two 
in length, taken from the horizontal shoots which spring forth from the foot of the 
old vines. One or two of these cuttings are planted close to the ching-kariang tree, 
sometimes as soon as the latter has taken root, but oftener after a lapse of six 
months from its being first planted. A few cultivators allow an interval of twelve 
months, fearful lest the growing vine should overpower its support ; but in general, 
if this be a healthy and vigorous shoot, so long a priority is unnecessary for its 
thriving, as it advances its sustaining power. The vine rises about two feet in the 
first year, and four or five more in the second ; at this time, or between the second 
and third year of its growth, it first begins to put forth blossoms. 
Sir Joseph Banks made several experiments on the cultivation of mountain 
rice in England, and as it flourishes under some circumstances through much cold, 
it was supposed that these attempts would have been followed with success. The 
