VIII 
PEPPERS 
263 
branch cuttings can be used, should they be met with 
in any locality where Erythrina is hot to be found. 
In Bombay the betel-nut palm, Areca catechu, is used, 
the pepper vines being planted on the trees in a betel- 
nut grove, and the plantations of betel-nuts which have 
given up bearing, as they do after a comparatively few 
years, may very well be put under pepper. 
Among other trees which have been utilised or tried 
as pepper supports, are the Kapok or silk cotton tree, 
Eriodendron anfractuosum, and Munkudu (Mengkudu), 
Morinda tinctoria. The former of these two does not 
seem to be really suitable, because the bark is too smooth 
and the pepper cannot get a grip on it, and therefore is 
apt to slide down. The Mengkudu is used in Trang in 
Southern Siam by the Chinese, and, according to Mr. 
Derry [Bulletin of the Straits Settlements, vol. viii. 
p. 243), is the most ideal shade tree for pepper he has 
seen. The Chinese, indeed, who formerly used Erythrina, 
were replacing it at Trang by this tree. It is a smaller 
tree than the Erythrina and it gives a better shade, its 
root development being smaller, thus not interfering 
with the growth of the pepper roots. 
He thus describes the planting in Trang : — 
On the older allotments, dadap {Erythrina umbrosa) had 
been planted for shade, but as a result of continuous pruning 
had become gnarled and stunted. Except that this tree grows 
quickly it is not a good shade tree, as a matter of fact it is 
much too large and the free development of roots is too ex- 
hausting on the soil for the successful growth of the vines. 
On all the younger allotments dadap had been superseded 
by mengkudu, a much smaller tree and affording better shade 
at a minimum root expansion. Between alternate rows of 
mengkudu a row of posts had been run, and in the rows, 
whether trees or posts, an additional post or posts had been 
added wherever a good offshoot could be obtained, so that while 
the shade was efficient the allotment was cropped as closely as 
feasible. The mengkudu trees were topped above the second 
whorl of branches, and as a consequence the branches spread 
in a moderate horizontal direction. At the time of my visit 
the shade trees were being pruned ; where necessary the spread- 
ing branches were shortened, and all superfluous growths 
