Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/290

 280 PEPPER PEPPER GRASS in the traffic between Europe and India ; trib- ute was levied in pepper, and it was often used as a medium of exchange ; when Rome was besieged by Alaric, A. D. 408, he demanded as a ransom, besides gold and silver, 3,000 Ibs. of pepper ; in the middle ages the landlords ex- acted a given amount of pepper at stated times as rent. Dealers in spices were formerly called pepperers, and in the 12th century they formed a fraternity which was afterward merged in the grocers' company. The plant is subjected to a rude kind of cultivation, in rich wooded valleys, where lofty trees maintain the requi- site coolness and moisture ; the vines planted in these localities propagate themselves by run- ning along the soil and taking root ; the na- tives tie up the ends of the vines to the nearest tree, the shoots above the tie hanging down ; if no tree is at hand, poles are set for training the vines. The average product is 8 or 10 Ibs. of berries to each plant, and this is maintained for 10 or 15 years, when it declines, and a new plantation must be made. In Malabar the vine flowers in May and June, and the harvest be- gins in the new year ; as soon as a few berries upon a cluster turn red, the spike is picked, and the next day the berries are rubbed off by hand and dried on mats in the sun, or in baskets before a slight fire ; if the berries are allowed to become thoroughly ripe upon the vine, there is much loss from dropping, and they are less pungent; when dried, the color is brownish black and the surface is much wrinkled. White pepper is the same as the black, it being pre- pared by removing the outer coating of the fruit ; the berries are allowed to ripen and are then put into water and rubbed with the hands to wash away the pulp ; when so treated it is less pungent, but is preferred by many from its not being readily seen in the food ; when this is scarce in England, ordinary pepper is bleached with chlorine and used as a substitute. In commerce Malabar pepper bears the highest price, and that from Sumatra is the cheapest. Pepper acts as a stimulant to digestion ; while it is regarded as useful in small quantities, large doses are capable of producing inflammation ; when applied to the skin it causes reddening, and if the application continues long enough it will blister. Pepper in the ground state is frequently adulterated; besides grinding up the sweepings of warehouses with the pepper, various inert substances are added. Hassall found in ground pepper in London linseed-cake meal, wheat flour, pea flour, mustard husks, rape seed, &c. ; and in white pepper bone dust is used; in this country old ship bread and Indian meal are often used in such adultera- tions. In 1819 Oersted discovered in pepper a crystallizing principle, which was at first supposed to be an alkaloid and the active con- stituent ; but later Pelletier showed that it was neutral with some of the properties of a resin, and when perfectly pure without taste or odor ; it has been used with some success as an anti- periodic. The pungent taste of pepper is due to an acrid concrete oil or resin, and its odor to a volatile oil. An Asiatic species, P. trioi- cum, furnishes a pepper esteemed in its native country, and the small quantities sent to Eng- land rank equal to the best Malabar. Long pepper, which was probably known as early as the common kind, is scarcely ever seen in this country ; it consists of numerous very small fruits attached to a stem, and is about an inch and a half long and a quarter of an inch thick, having somewhat the appearance of a slender mulberry ; it has properties similar to the other, but is less powerful. Two species are said to furnish long pepper ; these have been separated from the genus piper and placed in charica, the species standing now C. officinarum and C. Roxburgh. The principal consumption of this is in India. For the Cayenne or red pep- per, and the peppers of the gardens, see CAP- SICUM; other species related to the common pepper are noticed under BETEL and CUBEBS. PEPPERELL, Sir William, an American gen- eral, born at Kittery Point, Me., June 27, 1696, died there, July 6, 1759. He was brought up as a merchant. About 1727 he was elected one of his majesty's council for the province of Massachusetts, and he was regularly reelect- ed for 32 years in succession, and was ap- pointed chief justice of the court of common pleas in 1730. When the expedition against Louisburg was undertaken, the governors of New England gave him the command of the troops. Beginning the siege in May, 1745, he soon compelled the city to surrender, and was made a baronet. Visiting England in 1749, he was commissioned colonel in the British army, became major general in 1755, and in 1759 lieutenant general. He was acting gov- ernor of Massachusetts from 1756 to 1758. He published an account of a " Conference with the Penobscot Tribe " (Boston, 1753). His life has been written by Usher Parsons (Boston, 1855). His grandson was created a baronet in 1774, and embraced the royal cause du- ring the revolutionary war, in consequence of which his estates were confiscated. PEPPER GRASS, the name in this country of a garden annual (lepidium sativum) which in England is called cress; though both names are given in our seed catalogues, that first men- tioned is the one in most common use. The genus lepidium (Gr. faTritiiov, a little scale, re- ferring to the small flat pods) belongs to the crucifercB or mustard family, and is represented in all parts of this country by native and intro- duced species ; the garden species is a native of west central Asia, and has been cultivated in England since 1548. It has deeply divided leaves, small white flowers, and minute orbicu- lar flattened seed pods; it has the pungency common to the family in a pleasant form, and is cultivated exclusively for its young leaves, which are used as a salad, either alone or to mix with other salad plants. It is of rapid growth, and being of use only when young and tender, it is customary to make a sowing once