VIII 
PEPPERS 
283 
The difference in the length of time it takes to 
commence bearing in different places is due probably to 
the method of cultivation. Where the plant is allowed 
to grow 20 ft. up a betel-nut palm, it naturally takes 
longer to come into bearing than on the 8 or 10 ft. post 
of the Chinese. 
There are records of a plant bearing well at thirty 
years of age, but the cultivator may reckon the vine has 
lasted well if it lasts for twenty years in good bearing 
condition. 
Fruiting . — Pepper will commence to fruit as early 
as a year after planting, but it is not advisable to allow 
the flower-spikes to remain on so early. It is usual 
rather to wait till the vine is fully developed, in the 
second or third year. When the vine is fully grown it 
completely covers the stake, and is well provided with 
spikes covered entirely with closely appressed berries. 
The berries do not ripen all at once. At first dark 
green, they become yellow, and then red. When one or 
two are red on a spike it is plucked by hand. As the 
stakes are tall, the gatherer requires a step-ladder in 
order to reach the top of the vines. Ladders resting 
against the vine cannot be allowed, as they bruise and 
break the branches. 
The crop is collected in September and the following 
months till January in Sumatra, and in March or April 
in India. In most parts of the East there are two crops, 
the larger one in August or September, the smaller one 
in March and April, but frequently gathering goes on 
all the year round. Much depends on the season, 
abundance of rain, and sun. It is not uncommon to see 
flowers, half ripe and ripe berries on the vine at the 
same time. 
There is a considerable variation in the fullness of 
the spikes. In an ideal bunch the peppercorns are 
close pressed together, with no empty space between, 
and all the fruit full-sized or nearly so, and all approxi- 
mately of the same developmental stage. The irregular 
ripening of the fruit prevents their all being actually 
