282 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
is useless to plant on the same spot before the soil has been 
thoroughly sterilised. Lime, if available, will affect this. 
Finally, great care should be taken in the selection of perfectly 
healthy cuttings. No part of any diseased plant should be used, 
for though the plant may not at any one spot show* the disease, 
the mycelium is present, and will, at a later stage, grow out and 
show the disease. In many parallel cases where root disease 
is the trouble, the disease is really fostered by the planting of 
diseased cuttings. 
The case of such a disease as this calls distinctly 
for treatment of the soil with Bordeaux mixture. My 
experience of treating this class of fungus with liberal 
doses of lime and copper sulphate leaves no doubt in my 
mind that this will purify the ground of the pest. The 
planter should lose no time on the first appearance of 
any underground root fungus on the pepper. Isolate 
the infected area at once by trenches, as described, and 
sprinkle them well with lime, cut down every vine 
within the infected area and burn on the spot, stake and 
all. Do not try to save a plant within the area that 
does not by then appear to be infected. It entails risk 
of greater loss. Dig the ground over thoroughly, throw- 
ing the soil into the centre of the plot, and not outside. 
Pour the Bordeaux mixture thoroughly over the whole 
plot, and do not replant on the same spot for a full year. 
DURATION OF THE LIFE OF A VINE 
This depends mainly on the way the plant is cared 
for, and the amount of manure which it receives. A 
Chinese planter, if pepper happens to be low in price, 
will give it no manure further than the first year or two’s 
burnt earth, and the plant becomes worn out in four or 
five years. If properly treated, however, it should last 
in good condition for from twelve to fourteen years. 
In Assam, where it is only considered as beginning to 
fruit in five years, or at earliest three, the vine continues 
to yield for at least twenty years. In Madras, where it 
is said by one writer to commence bearing in seven 
years, it lasts for twenty-five. 
