MEDFORD 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. Taken
from Its natural habitat In the moist ,
lenfmold of Miady Jungles, U will
prow In plantations, though often
Kiven scant shade, and on poor soil,
f fertlllred. Although it climbs
rreely in Jungles, sometimes up to 30 !
reeet. it continues to thrive on plan-
tailons when tied to a rough-barked
iree. hardwood post., or even a stone
iioht. and kept pruned to about 12
reet.
"It ascends the post rapidly, but
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