382 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
and fresh., both green and ripe, for all through the 
tropics it is considered by the natives as a necessity 
of existence. There is therefore a good market for it, 
grown as a market vegetable near towns. For this 
purpose the greatest demand seems to be for Capsicum 
annuum, though the Malays at least seem to prefer the 
bird’s-eye chili ((7. minimum) on account of its greater 
pungency. Its easier cultivation perhaps accounts to 
some extent for its greater popularity. 
The price of the garden vegetable varies according 
to its abundance at the time, and rises and falls 
constantly, and this abundance depends to a large 
extent on the weather, as unseasonable weather causes a 
great loss of fruit from fungus. In a good season, with 
not too heavy rains, the crop is good and the fruits 
cheap. 
On such occasions, when the supply is in excess of 
the demand, the fruit is usually dried for storing and 
export to countries where the plant is little or not 
at all grown. There is a fairly steady demand for dried 
capsicums even in some countries where it can be and is 
easily grown. Thus in Singapore, in 1875, 2,526 piculs, 
and in 1880, 4,882 piculs of dried capsicums were 
imported from India, though the plant is commonly 
cultivated in the island by the Chinese. 
There is also a considerable demand for capsicums by 
pickle manufacturers, who use both fresh and dried 
fruits, and finally there is a demand for the manufactured 
article, cayenne pepper. 
The cultivation might well be taken up by the 
planters of permanent crops as a subsidiary or catch- 
crop, especially in cases where there is a good market 
for the fresh fruit accessible, but it should be in any case 
rotated at intervals with other crops, as it does not do 
well as a permanent annual crop, continuously grown on 
the same ground. 
Literature 
Drieberg. Notes on Chili Cultivation (Colombo, 1905). 
Guillard. Piment des solanees. 
