Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, March 21, 1935, Image 6

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Medford mail tribune., March 21, 1935, Page 6, Image 6

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Newspaper Page TextMEDFORD MATL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON. THURSDAY. MARCH 21. 1935. PEPPER DEBACLE no sooner doea It get well up It than cultivators sometimes detach It from It support, coll It like ft snake In hole In the ground, and bury It. leaving out only Its tip. This Is done to produce a stockier plant. Undia couraged the pepper plant sends tip a number of shoots which recllmb the post and envelop it in a dense bushy mow of grayish stems and dark green leaves frequently ten inches long. "The vine's flowers are borne on spikes from one to six Inches long. Although natives thwart attempt at fruiting' by nipping the flowers each year for several years, when the spikes are finally allowed to mature, they produce a thick crop. "On each spike about 60 small berries, or peppercorns develop, which gleam among the dark leaves aa they turn from green to yellow to red. The clusters are picked by hand, and dried, usually on mats In the sun until the peppercorns turn shriveled and black. They are next rubbed by band from the spikes, or beaten off with sticks, cleansed and packed for export. Ground, they form the black pepper, small cans or boxes of which almost every Ameri can cook keeps handy. "Natives remove the dark skins and pulp of the more ripened berries by various methods, commonly by soak ing them In running water and then trampling them underfoot. The re vealed white seed, becomes the fa miliar white pepper." Bring in your old gold l pay the top caAh price. Government Li cense." Johnson the Jeweler. Rome portraits of family groups and children at Special Prices. Shangl Btudio. phone 1308. IT Ose Mall Tribune want ads. FULL OF TROUBLE Fiery Commodity Bone of Contention for Centuries Black and White Pro duced by Same Plant PAGE SIX (DO Ci fesM WASHINGTON, D. C (flpl.) Falling companies closed their doors and 33.500 tons or pepper several years' supply piled up In London warehouses during the recent at tempt by London speculators to cor ner the world supply of white pep per. "This Is not the first time pepper has caused excitement." says a bul letin from the Washington. D. C. headquarters of the National Oeog rsphy Society. "This fiery commod ity was long a cause of contention between the early European trading companies operating In India and the Par East. Pepper cargoes raised the Ire of rival sea captains of the 17th and 18th centuries, and, along with other spices, led to pitched battles among Portuguese, Dutch, and Eng lish. landlords Accepted Pepper as Kent "Native to the moist forests of southwestern India, especially the Malabar coast, black pepper has long been prized by eastern peoples to quicken languid appetites. They uml it not only as a pungent condiment, but oven as a medicine. For centur ies pepper was the staple article of commerce between India and Eu rope. As far back as the fourth cen- : tury B. C. Greeks relished pepper as seasoning, and sneezes from It echo ed In the kitchens of Rome. It was once valued on a par with precious metals. When Alarlc, king of the Goths, pounded on the gates of Rome In 1804, he demanded as the city's ransom a .000 pounds of gold, 30.000 pounds of silver, and 8,000 pounds of pepper. "In the Middle Ages, pepper was prized above all spices. The most Im portant early English guild was the . Pepperer'a Ouild. At that time, the j spice was so valuable It frequently I took the place of money. Soldiers f swaggered off with pounds of It as part of their boothy. People received rewards in pepper, often paid their rent In pepper, and when a will was read, held their breath to hear how much peppef they had been be queathed. "The constant cry lor pepper, and Its high price, was largely what set canny Portuguese explorers for an all-sea route to the Indies. Vasco de Gama, sailing around the Capo of Good Hope, reached the borne of pep per, the Malabar coast. In 1498. Ve netians and Genoese who until then had practically monopolized the trade In pepper, now watched the Portu guese sail away with It. The Portu guese held the pepper purse-strings until the 17th century. Under their control, less pepper was raised on the Malabar coast, but Its cultivation was extended to the Islands of the Malay archipelago. Malacca, a port on the west coast of the Malay peninsula, became a great pepper emporium. Malaya Become "Pepper-Slaves" "So flourishing was the trade In pepper and other spices that In 1505 the uutch organized an East India company; In 1600 Queen Elizabeth chartered the English. East India company; Danish, French, Swiss and other organizations followed rapidly ! on their heels. "Moat Important commercially anu historically of all these companict. j was the English East India company, During the 17th century English : merchant vessels, with fragrant names like 'The Cloave' and The ! Peppercorne put In at East Indian j porta. They unloaded cargoes ol ' bright-colored cloth, mirrors, guns. 1 and metal goods, and sailed back to i Europe Udeu Willi raw silks, lndigu. ana an sorts ox spices, especially pep per. "The directors of the company ap pear to have known little about the apices they dealt In, and sometimes sent out amazing orders. Once they ordered a captain in tmmatra to load his ship with as much pepper as it could carry, forbidding him to waste even the sllnhtest space by carrying sugar as bnllnst. Thoy failed to real ize that such a featherweight cargo would cause the ahlp to bob like a cork on the waves, and, when bat tling around the Cape of Oood Hope, probably overturn. "For years pepper was the object of England's trade with Sumatra. There the company made contracts with rajahs who were obliged to rompel their dependents to cultivate pepper. Each native family was forced to plant 1.000 pepper vines, and each bachelor 50. The system of compelling natives to raise peppei for the company to buy was prac ticed by Dutch East Indian colonies until fatrly recent times. "A second system of cultivation fnMered by European trading com panies was to lend the Malays money with which to cultivate pepper. But since most of the borrowers never paid baek the loans, often whole vil lage under local laws became liable for the debt, ond In effect, "pepper slaves. lilai-k and Millie mi Same I'limt. "Although black pepper claims a lot of relatives scattered throughout the tropics, these do not Include sweet peppers, red peppers, and chil lies, which belong to an entirely dif ferent family. "The pepper vine Is a symbol of pernevernnoe. a plant that simply doesn't know when It is licked. 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