28 
PEPPER. 
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, 
occupying  about  fifty  acres  of  land.  The  produce  was  great, 
about  1000  vines  yielding  from  500  to  1000  lb.  of  berries.  He 
discovered  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,  it  is 
very  dusty.  Sumatra  pepper  is  the  commonest,  and,  conse- 
quently, the  cheapest ;  it  is  very  dusty,  and  has  a  large  propor- 
tion of  stalks  mixed  with  it.  Of  the  white  kinds,  Tellicherry 
peppei  is  the  most  valuaHe,  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.  Besides  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  piesent  century,  the  impost  levied  was  as  much  as  Is.  to 
