268 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
vine. Fish manure, that is the waste of the nets, small 
fish or broken bits and other refuse obtained in the 
fish-drying industry, is often used as a substitute. 
In Bombay the manure is made of leaves and twigs 
gathered during the wet season and used as litter in 
the cattle and buffalo byres. This is removed with the 
dung and urine of the cattle to pits every day or every 
second day, and after about a year’s decay is given 
to the vines in March or April. The pepper there is 
usually grown on betel-nut palms, and this manuring 
benefits both the palm and vine. A basket load is 
thrown in a circle around the plants, the baskets being 
3 ft. round and 15 to 18 ft. deep. 
During the first year while the plant is growing, 
besides manuring, the cultivator occupies his time in 
weeding the ground, attending to the drains, and spray- 
ing to kill caterpillars and other pests. A good deal of 
judicious pruning is often required to prevent the 
plant from growing too bushy at the top, and to induce 
it to branch out below so as to cover the post. By the 
time it has reached the top of the post it will have 
been pruned at least three times. All suckers and 
useless shoots are removed during this time. 
The vine will reach the top of the post in from three 
and a half to four years, and may then be considered 
to be full grown. 
A planter who contributes an article on pepper 
planting to the Singapore Free Press, in 1888, advises 
that no crop should be taken till it has reached the top 
of the post, the flower spikes being removed as they 
appear. The Chinese commence gathering the crop in 
two or two and a half years, but allow it to bear 
gradually upwards from the base. At this age from 
1 to 1^ catties of white pepper (4 to 6 catties of green 
pepper) are produced by the vine, and this is doubled 
when at three and a half years the vine has reached the 
top of its post and is full grown. 
Liquid cattle manure can be used if procurable, and 
gives very good results. A planter in the Singapore 
