286 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
palms, allowing the plant to climb up 20 ft., naturally 
gives a larger return than the ordinary Chinese method 
of growing it on 10 or 12 ft. stakes. 
In the Straits Settlements, under Chinese cultivation, 
it used to be reckoned that in very good soil a vine would 
yield ^ lb. of dry pepper in the end of the first year, i lb. 
in the second year, 1 lb. in the third, 3 to lbs. in the 
fourth, and from 8 to 10 lbs. in the fifth, after which it 
should give about 10 lbs. till the fifteenth or twentieth 
year. In Sumatra, a single vine is considered to give 
1-|- lb. each year. In Borneo, under Chinese cultivation, 
the first crop at two and a quarter or two and a half 
years of age gives from 1 to 1^ catty (IJ to about 2 lbs.) 
of white pepper, or from to 8 lbs. of green pepper. 
At three and a half years of age, when it is supposed to 
be full grown, it would give 3 catties, or about 4 lbs. of 
dry pepper. T. S. Dobree, in the Ceylon Observer, says 
that he saw 30 lbs. of green pepper (which is equivalent 
to about 6 lbs. of dry pepper) taken from a vine said to 
be thirty years old, in Singapore. Taking the number 
of vines to the acre as 889, this gives 26*670 lbs. of green 
pepper for the autumn crop of an acre, and the Chinese 
owner said the spring crop was as large ; that is to 
say, the plantation gave 53*340 lbs. of green pepper or 
10*668 lbs. dry pepper per year. This is probably very 
exceptional, and such a return could not be expected. 
In Bombay, where the vines are grown on betel-nut 
palms to a height of 15 or 20 ft., with two or three 
vines on each palm, it is reckoned that the vines on a 
single palm should give 1,000 spikes of fruit, equivalent 
to 7 seers (49 lbs.) of dry pepper. In Assam, the usual 
return is 7 lbs. of dry pepper from each vine, in a year, 
and the largest amount that can be got from a single 
vine is 21 lbs. 
In Madras, according to J. Murray [Dictionary of 
Economic Plants of India), three forms of vines are 
recognised which are distinguished according to their 
yield. Of these the form known as “ Kari Malisaric ” 
gives the highest return, namely 3 lbs. of pepper a year. 
