which latter it is not to
exceed), or in the second year of its growth, it must be headed or
topped; and the branches that then extend themselves laterally, from the
upper part only, so long as their shade is required, are afterwards
lopped annually at the commencement of the rainy season (about November),
leaving little more than the stem; from whence they again shoot out to
afford their protection during the dry weather. By this operation also
the damage to the plant that would ensue from the droppings of rain from
the leaves is avoided.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PEPPER-VINE.

The pepper-vine is, in its own climate, a hardy plant, growing readily
from cuttings or layers, rising in several knotted stems, twining round
any neighbouring support, and adhering to it by fibres that shoot from
every joint at intervals of six to ten inches, and from which it probably
derives a share of its nourishment. If suffered to run along the ground
these fibres would become roots; but in this case (like the ivy) it would
never exhibit any appearance of fructification, the prop being necessary
for encouraging it to throw out its bearing shoots. It climbs to the
height of twenty or twenty-five feet, but thrives best when restrained to
twelve or fifteen, as in the former case the lower part of the vine bears
neither leaves nor fruit, whilst in the latter it produces both from
within a foot of the ground. The stalk soon becomes ligneous, and in time
acquires considerable thickness. The leaves are of a deep green and
glossy surface, heart-shaped, pointed, not pungent to the taste, and have
but little smell. The branches are short and brittle, not projecting
above two feet from the stem, and separating readily at the joints. The
blossom is small and white, the fruit round, green when young and
full-grown, and turning to a bright red when ripe and in perfection. It
grows abundantly from all the branches in long small clusters of twenty
to fifty grains, somewhat resembling bunches of currants, but with this
difference, that every grain adheres to the common stalk, which occasions
the cluster of pepper to be more compact, and it is also less pliant.

MODES OF PROPAGATING IT.

The usual mode of propagating the pepper is by cuttings, a foot or two in
length, of the horizontal shoots that run along the ground from the foot
of the old vines (called lado sulur), and one or two of these are planted
within a few inches of the young chinkareen at the same