In commencing a new plantation where vines are not to be found growing spontaneously, the first consideration is choice of site. Preference is to be given to level ground bordering rivers or streams, but not subject to inundation ; slopes sre to be avoided, unless very gentle ; and plains will require deep ploughing and much manure. Propagation may be from cuttings and suckers, or from seed. The plants raised by the latter means are said to yield for 14 years, while those from the former are only fruitful for 7 years, but their crops are superior in both quantity and quality, consequently the planting of suckers or cuttings is most generally adopted. The next consideration will be the kind of tree to plant as a support and shade for the vines. Where trees are growing on the ground to be planted with pepper, preference is given to the mango (Mangifera indica), whose fruit is not injured by the development of the pepper-vine ; failing thls, recourse may be had to the jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), whose fruit, however, is said to be diminished in quantity and injured in quality by the presence of the pepper. When it is necessary to plant trees, choice is made of the Erythrina indica, as a large branch of it put into the ground in the rainy season will be capable of supporting the vine in the course of a year ; mango-trees may then be raised meantime, as 6-15 years' bearing of the vines suffices te kill the Erythrinas. In conimencing a plantation upon Erythrinas, the ground is usually fenced with a mud wall, and made into terraces. Between mid July and mid-November, the ground ie deeply hoed, and set out with plantains at about 12 paces apart ; between the first week in February and first in March, branches of Erythrina 6-12 ft. long are planted at 60 paces apart, and watered till the rainy season sets in. Between 10 May and 10 June, the pepper-vines are planted, which may be done in several ways. One plan is to put doz. cuttings each 18 in. long into a basket, which is filled with earth, and buried at the foot of the tree, with the cuttings sloping towards it. Between mid-October and mid-November, the ground around the basket is dug, and the vines are manured with cow-dung and dead leaves. The be,skets are said to be a great protection to the plants in their early life, bnt are often omitted. In either case, during the dry seasons of three years after planting, the vines need watering, in favour able soils, once in 3 days; in dry soils, on alternate days. Between mid-Ootober and mid-November they are manured, and are trained up to the tree till 6 ft. high, after which they are self-supporting. After the 3rd year, the plantains are dug up ; and then this manuring and hoeing of the ground is performed twice annually, viz. between mid-October and mid-November, and between mid-July and mid-August. The vines produce in 4-5 years, and are in full bearing in the 6th or 7th, continuing to yield for 12-14 years, when the Erythrinas die. In some cases, the trees supporting the vines are pruned, and their branches are lopped; in others, the leaves only are thinned. Mango-trees should be at least 20 years old beforo having to support the vines.
The Sumatran rnode of cultivation differs considerably. The ground is cleared, ploughed, and sown with rice ; cuttings of the vine aro then planted 5 ft. apart each way, with a sapling of some tree of quick growth and rough bark, in September. The vinea are left alone for 12-18 months, then entirely buried, except a small surface of the bent stem, whence spriog new shoots, 3-4 of which are allowed to climb the tree planted with them, and are expected to give flowers and fruits a year later. There are two crops annually, the let in December-January, the 2nd iu July
August ; the latter is much inferior in both quantity and quality.
The yield of the plantations varies somewhat according t,o circumstances. In Sumatra, the dual orop is eetimated to average li lb. from each vino per annum. In Malabar, each vine gives a mean of 2 lb. a year up to the 15th-20th year, or about 24 lb. for each tree, which may support 8-12 vines. Sometimes 8-10 lb. is got from a single vine. An acre is reckoned to bear 2500 plants, and to cost not more than 4/. to bring into bearing, while yielding a produce worth about 80/. when in full bearing. The fruits grow in maws of 20-30 on a single stem. The harvest takes place when they aro full-grown and hard, but before they mature, in which latter state they lose pungency and fall off. The season for gathering falls between mid-December and mid-February. The bunches (amenta) are hand-pinoked in bags or baskets, and the berries (pepper) are then detached from the stem by rubbing with the hands or feet on a mat. The sound berries are then sun-dried for 2-3 days, in a single layer, either on mats or on a patch of smooth ground, being collected iu earthen jars at night away from the dew. Mat-drying is said to give a heavier return than ground-drying. The dry pepper is put up in mat bags of 64-128 lb., and is ready for the market.
Our imports of black pepper in 1880 were 21,179,059 lb., 385,1081., from the Straits, and 550,909 lb., 12,9791., from other couutries ; total, 21,729,968 lb., 398,0871. The total in 1879 was only 17,532,958 lb. ; in 1877 it was 28,643,635 lb. Our re-exports in 1880 were 12,925,886 lb., 235,8011., chiefly to Germany, Rusaia, Italy, Holland, and Spain. The fluctuations in our imports from different countries have been as follows :—Java: 2792 lb. in 1876, 74,250 in 1879, none between ; Abyssinia : 180,887 lb. in 1876, 0 in 1879, 12,950 in 1880 ; Siam : 60,000 lb. in 1876, none aince ; Cochin China : 210,000 lb. in 1876, 0 in 1878 and 1879, 4850 in 1880 ; Cape : 19,988 lb. in 1876, 180,154 in 1879, 18,642 in 1880 ; Straits : 27,825,576 lb. in 1877, 16,932,073 in 1879. In the E. Archipelago, pepper-culture is widely spread. It is again assuming large proportions in Atjeh [Atchin or Acheen], the produce being shipped chiefly to Penang and Batavia, Edi on the N.-E. coast (of Suniatra) being the principal mart. In 1822, the Kingdom of Deli had a harvest of 26,000 pietas. The country and the people are remarkably adapted to pepper-growing, and the Bataka of N. Sumatra have long been exclusively devoted to it. The value of the foreign exports frorn Brunei (Borneo) in 1879 was only 362 dol. In 1801, the S. Bornean district of Banjarmasaing was alone capable of producing 1500 tone of the spie,e. The Java exports of the 1878 crop were :— 18,832 piculs (of 1351 lb.) to Holland, 2773 to Singapore, 1855 to Italy,1711 to America, 1000 to the Channel for orders, 244 to Australia, 100 to France, total, 26,515 ; for the 1879 crop, 6106 picu/s to Singapore, 4571 to France, 3956 to Holland, 1501 to England, 1253 to America, 644 to Italy, 100 to Australia, total, 18,131. Saigon (French Cochin China) had 2177 acres under pepper in 1879, when 4145 piculs (of 133i lb.) were Bold at the rate of M. a lb.; in 1878, the exports were 3500 piculs, 50001.; in 1880, there was a great falling off, only 3000piculs being brought into the market. The cultivation is extending in Ceylon. China imports large quantities of both black and white pepper.