290 
PEPPER. 
of the directors of companies of the products or basis of the company’s operations. The 
story runs somewhat in the following manner:—The directors of a Bencoolen pepper 
plantation, alert, as they should be, to the interests of the shareholders, finding that white 
pepper, which commanded a higher price than black, had as ready a sale and was there¬ 
fore more profitable, immediately sent orders to the manager of their plantation for 
greater care to be bestowed upon the plants yielding white pepper than those yielding 
black. This must have been highly amusing to the growers themselves. 
The black pepper vine is indigenous to the forests of Malabar and Travancore. Its 
cultivation is very simple, and is effected by cuttings or suckers put down before the 
commencement of the rains in June. The soil should be rich, but if too much moisture 
be allowed to accumulate near the roots, the young plants are apt to rot. In three 
years the vine begins to bear. They are planted chiefly in hilly districts, but thrive well 
enough in the low country, in the moist climate of Malabar. They are usually planted 
at the base of trees which have rough or prickly bark, such as the jack, the erythrina, 
cashew-nut, mango-tree, and others of similar description. They will climb about 
20 or 30 feet, but are purposely kept lower than that. During their growth it is requi¬ 
site to remove all suckers, and the vine should be pruned, thinned, and kept clear of 
weeds. 
The berries must be plucked before they are quite ripe, and if too early they will spoil. 
The pepper vine is very common in the hilly districts of Travancore, especially in the 
Cottayan, Meenachel, and Chengaracherry districts, where, at an average calculation, 
about 5000 candies (of 500 lb. each) are produced annually. It is one of the Sircar 
monopolies. . It may not be irrelevant to mention here the P. trioicum, Roxb., which 
both Dr. Wright andMegnel consider to be the original type of the P. nigrum , and from 
which it is scarcely distinct as a species. The question will be set at rest by future 
botanists. The species in question was first discovered by Dr. Roxburgh growing wild 
in the hills north of Samulcottah, where it is called in Teloogoo the “ Merial-tiga.” 
_ It was growing plentifully about every valley among the hills, delighting in a moist, 
rich soil, and. well shaded by trees ; the flowers appearing in September and October, and 
the berries ripening in March. Dr. R. commenced a large plantation, and in 1789 it 
contained about 40,000 or 50,000 pepper vines, occuping about fifty acres of land. The 
produce was great, about 1000 vines yielding from 500 to 1000 lb. of berries. He dis¬ 
covered that the pepper of the female vines did not ripen properly, but dropped while 
green, and when dried had not the pungency of the common pepper, whereas the pepper 
of those plants which had the hermaphrodite and female flowers mixed in the same 
amount was exceedingly pungent, and was reckoned by the merchants equal to the best 
Malabar pepper. 
Several varieties both of black and white pepper are known in commerce. Of the 
black the most valuable comes from Malabar, and is known as Malabar pepper. It is 
very clean, and free from dust and stalks. Penang and Sumatra pepper are also varieties 
of black, known in the markets, the former has, perhaps, a larger berry than the 
Malabar, but, unlike that, is very dusty. Sumatra pepper is the commonest, and conse¬ 
quently the cheapest; it is very dusty, and has a large proportion of stalks mixed with 
it. Of the white kinds, Tellicherry pepper is the most valuable, fetching a much higher 
price than any other of the white varieties: the berries are also larger, and of a purer 
white.. The common white pepper of our shops is imported chiefly from Penang, and 
varies in price, according to size and whiteness, much of the white pepper, however, as 
seen in trade, is nothing more than the black Penang sort, bleached in England. Be¬ 
sides these varieties, there is a kind of bleached black pepper, the bleaching of which is 
effected by chlorine. 
Great as is the consumption of pepper, the high rate of duty imposed upon it tends to 
cripple the full development of a trade which might become of vast proportions. An 
ample illustration of this fact is found in the increased consumption of pepper in the 
years following a reduction of the duty. In the early part of the present century the 
impost levied was as much as Is. to 2s., and even 2s. 6d. per pound, while the cost 
price in Singapore ranged no higher than from 6c/. to 8c?. In proportion as the duty 
was .lowered, so the price of pepper fell, and the consumption became likewise pro¬ 
portionately greater. The prime cost of Singapore pepper at the present time does not 
exceed Id. or 1 ^d. per pound, and that from Malabar, Sumatra, and Penang, about 4c/., 
while white pepper fetches from 9 d. to Is., and perhaps Is. 6d. In Singapore, where 
