The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

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Dr. Pereira, from a careful examination and close inquiry, is of
opinion that the _Amomum Grana-Paradisi_ of Smith, and the _Amamum
Melegueta_ of Roscoe, are identical species.

In the second volume of the "Pharmaceutical Journal," Dr. Pereira
states that the term "grains of paradise," or Melegueta, has been
applied to the produce of no less than six scitamineous plants. At the
present time, and in this country, the term is exclusively given to
the hot acrid seeds imported into England from the coast of Guinea,
and frequently called Guinea grains; and by the Africans Guinea
pepper.

_Elettaria Cardomomum_, Don.--The fruit of this species constitutes
the true, small, officinal Malabar cardamoms. It is an ovate oblong,
obtusely triangular capsule, from three to ten lines long, rarely
exceeding three lines in breadth, coriaceous, ribbed, greyish or
brownish yellow. It contains many angular, blackish or reddish brown
rugose seeds, which are white internally, have a pleasant aromatic
odor, and a warm agreeable taste. 100 parts of the fruit yield 74
parts of seeds, and 26 parts of pericarpal coats.

This seems to be identical with _Amomum Cardamomum_.

_Elettaria major_, is a perennial, native of Ceylon, which grows in
shady situations in a rich mixed soil. The dried capsules are known in
commerce as wild or Ceylon cardamoms, and are of less value in the
market than those of Malabar (_Elettaria Cardamomum_, Maton). It is
chiefly grown about the Kandyan district; and in the eight years
ending with 1813, the average export was nine and a-half candies per
annum. The seeds in taste resemble our carraways, and are used for
seasoning various dishes.

Ceylon cardamoms are now worth in the London market (Sept., 1853) 1s.
to 1s. 3d. per lb.; Malabar ditto, 2s. 3d. to 3s.

PEPPER.

The black pepper of commerce is obtained from the dried unripe fruit
(drupes) of _Piper nigrum_, a climbing plant common in the East
Indies, and of the simplest culture, being multiplied with facility by
cuttings or suckers. The ripe fruit, when deprived of its outer fleshy
covering by washing, forms the white pepper of the shops. The dried
fruiting spikes of _P. longum_, a perennial shrub, native of Malabar
and Bengal, constitute long pepper. The fruit of _Xylopia aromatica_
is commonly called Ethiopian pepper, from being used as pepper in
Africa. The seeds of some species of fennel-flower (_Nigella sativa_
and _arvensis_), natives of the south of Europe, were formerly used
instead of pepper, and are said to be still extensively employed in
adulterating it. In Japan, the capsules of _Xanthoxylum piperitum_, or
_Fagara Piperita_, are used as a substitute for pepper, and so is the
fruit of _Tasmannia aromatica_ in Van Diemen's Land. According to Dr.
Roxburgh, _P. trioicum_ is cultivated in the East, and yields an
excellent pepper.

The pepper vine rises about two feet in the first year of its growth,
and attains to nearly six feet in the second, at which time, if
vigorous and healthy, the petals begin to form the corolla or blossom.
All suckers and side shoots are to be carefully removed, and the vines
should be thinned or pruned, if they become bushy at the top. Rank
coarse weeds and parasitical plants should be uprooted. The vine would
climb, if permitted, to the elevation of twenty feet, but is said to
bear best when kept down to the height of ten or twelve feet. It
produces two crops in the year. The fruit grows abundantly from all
the branches, in long small clusters of from 20 to 50 grains; when
ripe it is of a bright red color. After being gathered, it is spread
on mats in the sun to dry, when it becomes black and shrivelled. The
grains are separated from the stalks by hand rubbing. The roots and
thickest parts of the stems, when cut into small pieces and dried,
form a considerable article of commerce all over India, under the name
of _Pippula moola_.

Almost all the plants of the family _Piperaceae_ have a strong aromatic
smell and a sharp burning taste. This small group of plants is
confined to the hottest regions of the globe; being most abundant in
tropical America and in the East Indian Archipelago, but more rare in
the equinoctial regions of Africa. The common black pepper, _P.
nigrum_, represents the usual property of the order, which is not
confined to the fruit, but pervades, more or less, the whole plant. It
is peculiar to the torrid zone of Asia, and appears to be indigenous
to the coast of Malabar, where it has been found in a wild state. From
this it extends between the meridians of longitude 96 deg. and 116
deg. S. and the parallels of latitude 5 deg. S. and 12 deg. N., beyond
which no pepper is found. Within these limits are the islands of
Sumatra and Borneo, with the Malay peninsula and part of Siam. Sumatra
produces by far the greatest quantity of pepper. In 1842, the annual
produce of this island was reckoned at 30,000,000 lbs., being more
than the amount furnished by all the other pepper districts in the
world.

A little pepper is grown in the Mauritius and the West India Islands,
and its cultivation is making some progress on the Western Coast of
Africa, as we imported from thence 2,909 bags and casks in 1846, and
about 110,000 lbs. in 1847.

Mr. J. Crawfurd, F.R.S., one of the best authorities on all that
relates to the commerce and agriculture of the Eastern Archipelago,
recently estimated the produce of pepper as follows:--

lbs.
Sumatra (West Coast) 20,000,000
" (East Coast) 8,000,000
Islands in the Straits of Malacca 3,600,000
Malay Peninsula 3,733,333
Borneo 2,666,667
Siam 8,000,000
Malabar 4,060,000
----------
Total 50,000,000

If we add to this

Western Coast of Africa and B.W. Indies 53,000
Java 4,000,000
Mauritius and Ceylon 80,000
----------
It gives 54,133,000
as the total produce of the world

Black pepper constitutes a great and valuable article of export from
the Indian Islands; which, as we have seen, afford by far the largest
portion of What is consumed throughout the world. In the first
intercourse of the Dutch and English with India, it constituted the
most considerable and important staple of their commerce. The
production of pepper is confined in a great measure to the western
countries of the Eastern Archipelago, and among these to the islands
in the centre and to the northern quarter, including the Peninsula. It
is obtained in the ports on both sides of the coast of the latter, but
particularly the north-eastern coast. The principal quarters
(according to Mr. Crawfurd, my authority on this subject), are Patani,
Tringanu, and Kalantin. In the Straits a large quantity is produced in
the island of Singapore, and above all in Pinang, where the capital of
Europeans and the skill and industry of the Chinese have been
successfully applied to its culture. The western extremity of Sumatra,
and the north-west coast of that island, are the most remarkable
situations in it for the production of pepper, and here we have
Acheen, Tikao, Bencoolen, Padang, and the country of the Lampungs. The
production of the eastern extremity of Sumatra or Palembang is
considerable, but held of inferior quality. In the fertile island of
Java, the quantity of pepper grown is inconsiderable, nor is it
remarkable for the goodness of its quality.

The province of Bantam has always furnished, and still continues to
produce, the most pepper; but the culture of this creeper is fast
giving place in Java to staples affording higher profits and requiring
less care. The exports were, in the following years:--

piculs. | lbs.
1830 6,061 | 1843 3,737,732
1835 11,868 | 1848 461,680
1839 11,044 | 1851 95,037
1841 13,477 | 1852 135,690

The number of pepper vines in the district of Bencoolen, in the close
of last year, 1852, was as follows:--1,571,894 young vines; 2,437,052
bearing ditto; total, 4,008,946.

Up to the end of September there had been delivered to the Government
1,145 piculs white pepper, and 1,128 piculs black pepper, while of the
harvest of 1852 there were still probably to be received 330 piculs
white, and 4,967 piculs black pepper.

The south, the west, and the north coasts of the great island of
Borneo produce a large quantity of pepper; as early as 1721 it was a
staple commodity of this island. Banjarmassin is the most productive
place on the south coast, and the State of Borneo Proper on the north
coast. The best pepper certainly does not grow in the richest soils,
for the peppers of Java and Palembang are the worst of the
Archipelago, and that of Pinang and the west coast of Sumatra are the
best. Care in culture and curing improves the quality, as with other
articles, and for this reason chiefly it is that the pepper of Pinang
is more in esteem than that of any other portion of the Archipelago.
From the ports and districts of Siam 3,500 to 4,000 tons are exported
annually.

The duty at present levied on pepper in England is 6d. per lb., while
the wholesale price for that of Pinang, Malabar, and Sumatra is about
4d. per lb. White pepper ranges from 9d. to 1s. 6d. per lb. The prime
cost in Singapore is not more than 11/2d. per lb.

About 70,000 or 80,000 piculs of pepper are annually exported from
Singapore, of which between 30,000 and 40,000 piculs have, until
within the last two years, gone on to Great Britain. More than
one-half of the pepper exported from Singapore is grown in the island
by Chinese settlers.

The low selling price of the article in the English market, the high
duty levied upon it, and the large freight paid for its carriage to
Great Britain, now leave so small a price to the cultivator in
Singapore, that the cultivation ceases to be remunerative, and is
carried on at a loss; and has consequently within the last year or two
begun to decrease rapidly, involving the Chinese growers, who are
generally of the poorest class, and without capital, in great
distress. A reduction in the duty on pepper has always been followed
by a very large increase in the consumption of the article, as will
appear from the following table, showing the importation and
consumption in Great Britain during some of the first and last years
of the different rates of duty:--

Duty Singapore price
Year Quantity consumed s. d. s. d. s. d.
1811 1,457,383 1 101/2 0 71/2 to 0 73/4
1814 941,569 1 101/2 0 11 " 1 1
1820 1,404,021 2 6 0 61/2 " 0 63/4
1824 1,447,030 2 6 0 43/4 " 0 51/2
1826 2,529,027 2 0 0 4 " 0 41/2
1836 2,749,491 1 0 0 0 " 0 0
1837 2,625,075 0 6 0 0 " 0 0
1845 3,210,415 0 6 0 21/4 " 0 43/4

In a memorial from the mercantile community of Singapore, sent home in
1848, it is asserted that a reduction in the duty of pepper being
always attended by a large increase in the consumption, would not lead
to any serious loss in the revenue, while it would confer a great boon
on the poorer classes, to whom it has now become a necessary article
of life. The reduction would also be of great advantage to British
manufacturers, as well as to our Indian possessions, by giving rise to
an increased demand or British goods and productions, and of the
highest benefit to the agricultural settlers in the island of
Singapore, by enabling them to procure for their labor an honest means
of livelihood.

The pepper vines, which are allowed to climb poles or small trees, are
tolerably productive at Singapore; and pepper planting is esteemed by
the Chinese to be a profitable speculation, particularly if they are
enabled to evade the payment of quit-rent. An acre of pepper vines
will yield 1,161 lbs. of clean pepper. In Sumatra a full grown plant
has been known to produce seven pounds; in Pinang the yield is much
more. The average produce of one thousand vines is said, however, to
be only about 450 lbs.

Colonel Low, in his "Dissertation on Pinang," published at Singapore
some years ago, gives an interesting account of the culture:--

"Pepper was, during many years, the staple product of Pinang soil,
the average annual quantity having been nearly four millions of
pounds; but previous to the year 1810, the above amount had
decreased to about two-and-a-half millions of pounds, which was the
result of the continental system.

The price having fallen at length to three and three-and-a-half
dollars the picul--with only a few occasional exceptions of
rises--the cultivation of this spice was gradually abandoned, and
the total product at this day does not exceed 2,000 piculs. The
original cost, when pepper was at a high price, together with
charges of transporting it to Europe, amounted to L36,357 for every
five hundred tons, and the loss by wastage was estimated at L5,405.
In 1818 there remained on the island 1,480,265 pepper vines in
bearing, and the average value of exports of pepper from Pinang,
including that received from other places, was averaged at 106,870
Spanish dollars.

As might have been foreseen, the fall of prices has so greatly
diminished the cultivation of pepper to the eastward, that a
reaction is likely to take place; and has in fact partly shown
itself already. Some Chinese in Pinang and Province Wellesley seem
to be preparing to renew the cultivation. There is abundant scope
for the purpose on both sides of the harbour, and every facility is
at hand for carrying it on.

The pepper plant or vine requires a good soil, the richer the
better, but the _red_ soil of the higher hills is not congenial, the
Chinese think, to it. The undulations skirting the bases of the
hills, and the deep alluvial lands, where not saturated with water,
or liable to be overflowed, are preferred.

The Chinese have always been the chief cultivators, and when the
speculation flourished they received advances from the merchants,
which they paid back in produce at fixed rates.

When pepper was extensively cultivated on Prince of Wales Island,
the European owner of the land had the forest cleared by contract,
and the vines planted by contract, and when the vines came into
bearing the plantation was farmed to the Chinese from year to year,
on payment of a specific quantity of pepper. Any other plan would
have ruined the capitalist, as the culture is almost entirely in
their hands in the Straits' Settlements, and they will not work so
well for others as when they are specially interested.

The plants are set out at intervals, _every way_, of from seven to
twelve feet, according to the degree of fertility of the soil, so
that there are from 800 to 1,000 vines in one orlong of land; to
each vine is allotted a prop of from ten to thirteen feet high, cut
from the thorny tree called _dadap_, or where that is scarce, from
the less durable _boonglai_; these props take root, thus affording
both shade and support to the plant. The plant may be raised from
seed pepper, but the plan is not approved of, cuttings being
preferable, as they soonest come into bearing. The pits in which
these cuttings are set should be a foot-and-a-half square, and two
feet in depth; manure is not often applied, and then it is only some
turf ashes. However unpicturesque a pepper plantation may be, still
its neat and uniform appearance renders the landscape lively, and
there can be little doubt that the island has suffered in its
salubrity since the jungle usurped the extensive tracts formerly
under pepper cultivation.

When the vine has reached the height of three or four feet, it is
bent down and laid in the earth, and about five of the strongest
shoots which now spring up are retained and carefully trained up the
prop, to which they are tied by means of ligatures of some creeping
plants.

One Chinese, after the plantation has been formed, can take care of
two orlongs of land. The usual mode is this:--an advance is made by
the capitalist to the laborer for building a house, and for
agricultural implements; he then receives two dollars monthly to
subsist on, until the end of the third year, when the estate or
plantation is equally divided betwixt the contracting parties.

The Chinese and even European cultivators used formerly to engage
the Chinese who had just arrived from China; they paid off their
passage-money, and then allowed them two dollars monthly, for
provisions, for one year; with a suit of clothes, by which means the
cost of the labor of one man averaged about three dollars monthly;
but this plan is attended with risks.

The cost attendant on the cultivation of two orlongs of land, with
pepper, for three years--the Chinese laborer receiving the usual
hire of _five_ Spanish dollars monthly--will be nearly as follows:--

Spanish dollars.
Price of land, clearing, and planting 40
Quit rent, at 75 cents per annum per orlong 9
Two thousand plants 4
" dadap props 6
Implements 6
House 10
Labor 200
Interest, loosely calculated at 30
---
Total Spanish dollars 305

In a very good soil a pepper vine will yield about one-eighth of a
pound of dry produce at the end of the first year; at the end of the
second, about a quarter of a pound; and at the expiration of the
third, probably one pound; at the end of the fourth, from three to
three-and-a-half pounds; ditto fifth, from eight to ten pounds.
After the fifth year up to the fifteenth, or even the twentieth
year, about ten pounds of dry merchantable produce may be obtained
from each vine, under favorable circumstances. The Chinese
speculator used to rent out his half-share of a new plantation for
five years, to his cultivating partner, after the expiration of the
first three years, at the rate of thirty piculs per annum; the total
produce of these five years giving about fifty-six piculs annually
as an average.

A pepper plantation never survives the thirtieth year, unless in
extremely rich soil, and then it is unproductive; nor will the young
vine thrive on an old worn out pepper land, a peculiarity which is
applicable to the coffee tree. The chief crop lasts from August to
February. Four pounds of dry produce, for ten of green, is
considered a fair estimate. Great care is requisite in the
management of the vine, and especially in training and tying it on
the props. It is subject to be injured by the attacks of a small
insect. The green pepper dries in two or three days, and if it is
intended that it shall be black, it is pulled before it is quite
ripe. To make white pepper, the berry is allowed to remain somewhat
longer on the vine; it is, when plucked, immersed in boiling water,
by means of which process and subsequent friction, before drying,
the husk is separated.

The exports of pepper from Pinang in the last four years have
been--In 1849, 2,591,233 lbs.; in 1850, 6,397,733 lbs.; in 1851,
2,366,933 lbs.; in 1852, 2,112,133 lbs."

A small quantity of pepper seems to be annually exported from Ceylon,
which I presume is the growth of that island; thus there were:--

54 cwts. shipped in 1842
83 " " 1843
102 " " 1844

In the Customs' returns of Ceylon, it is classed with cardamoms, and
160 to 170 cwt. of the two were shipped in each of the years 1850 and
1851. Last year the quantity was smaller.

Pepper cultivation has been introduced into the Mauritius, and in 1839
more than 500,000 lbs. were imported from thence, but as the shipments
have since decreased, I presume it has given place to the more
profitable staple sugar. I have been able to glean no information as
to the progress it has made in the West Indies. In Cayenne it has
been successfully carried on for many years; and large shipments of
pepper have been made thence to France.

BLACK PEPPER EXPORTED FROM SINGAPORE.

Piculs. Value in rupees.
1841 Total Exports 66,810
" Growth of Singapore 21,231 47,674
1842 Exports 74,228
" Growth of Singapore 32,277 72,473
1843 Exports 57,883
" Growth of Singapore 35,585 79,900
1844 Exports 67,148
" Growth of Singapore 42,995 386,152
1845 Exports 65,892
" Growth of Singapore 39,019 350,443
1846 Exports 56,709
" Growth of Singapore 35,712 -----
1847 Exports 60,994
" Growth of Singapore 36,565 328,397

Pliny, the naturalist, states that the price of pepper in the market
of Rome in his time was, in English money, 9s. 4d. a pound, and thus
we have the price of pepper at least 1,774 years ago. The pepper
alluded to must have been the produce of Malabar, the nearest part of
India to Europe that produced the article, and its prime cost could
not have exceeded the present one, or about 2d. a pound. It would most
probably have come to Europe by crossing the Indian and Arabian ocean,
with the easterly monsoon, sailing up the Red Sea, crossing the
desert, dropping down the Nile, and making its way along the
Mediterranean by two-thirds of its whole length. This voyage, which in
our times can be performed in a month, most probably then took
eighteen. Transit and customs duties must have been paid over and over
again, and there must have been plenty of extortion. All this will
explain how pepper could not be sold in the Roman market under
fifty-six times its prime cost. Immediately previous to the discovery
of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, we find that the price
of pepper in the markets of Europe had fallen to 6s a pound, or 3s.
4d. less than in the time of Pliny. What probably contributed to this
fall, was the superior skill in navigation of the now converted Arabs,
and the extension of their commerce to the islands of the Eastern
Archipelago, which abounded in pepper. After the great discovery of
Vasco de Gama, the price of pepper fell to about 1s. 3d. a pound, a
fall of 8s. 1d. from that of the time of Pliny, and of 4s. 9d. from
that of the Mahommedan Arabs, Turks, and Venetians.

In 1826, 14,000,000 lbs. of pepper were imported into the United
Kingdom, of which about 5,500,000 were re-exported. In 1841,
15,000,000 lbs. were imported, of which 6,500,000 were re-shipped to
other countries.

The home consumption, it will be seen, now averages about 3,250,000
lbs.:--

Imports Home consumption
lbs. lbs.
1845 9,852,984 3,209,718
1846 5,906,586 3,299,955
1847 4,669,930 2,966,022
1848 8,125,545 3,185,337
1849 4,796,042 3,257,911
1850 8,028,319 3,170,883
1851 3,996,496 3,303,403
1852 6,641,699 3,524,501

The following return shows the number of bags of pepper imported into
the United Kingdom, with the quantity retained for home consumption:--

Imports. Retained for home consumption.
Black. White. Black. White.
bags bags bags. bags.
1843 37,840 3,861 21,163 2,257
1844 60,705 2,123 23,525 2,122
1845 80,600 3,208 30,294 2,861
1847 37,194 1,236 28,768 2,654
1848 65,518 3,042 31,665 3,950
1849 43,651 2,616 32,246 3,859