ttings 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, whe