In structure it does not bear a close resemblance to black pepper, as its pepper corns, or berries, and husks all harden together on a long, central, irregular, climbing stem, much in the same way that in the pines the seed and covering are all hardened into one cone. It not only has more woody fiber but brings with it much more sand, which is found imbedded in the crevices of the irregular fruit, than is found in ordinary pepper. Long pepper is a spice often called for during the fall season for pickling. It imparts a flavor to pickles which causes a demand for it for preserving purposes. There is much old stock on the market, which is poor. This is often used to adulterate ordinary pepper, but it can be readily detected by its disagreeable odor, which warmth will develop, and by its slaty color and the amount of sand it contains. Although grinders try to destroy the odor by bleaching, and the slaty color by sifting out the husk to make it lighter, its characteristics cannot be covered up in the true pepper. In gathering the long pepper, the native, being paid by the weight for what he brings to the market, takes care not to less the weight of dirt, but rather to increase it, and in consequence we find that it has always from 3 to 7 per cent. of insoluble sand and clay in addition to the proper ash of the fruit. It is impossible to clean it as pepper should be cleaned for grinding, except with difficulty and by hand. The pepper is harvested in January and when thoroughly dry is put up in piculs of 135½ pounds each. The ash of the long pepper contains a very large proportion of salts insoluble in hydrochloric acid, and when ground the hard husk and woody centers, as well as the dirt, are necessarily ground along with the minute berries. Although it contains more sand and more woody fiber than genuine ground pepper of the corresponding shade, it does not contain as much cellulose as the most husky black pepper. Long pepper is always cheaper than the best black pepper and may be sold as long pepper on the market without offense, but it has no more right to a place on the market as black pepper than has any other admixture, and as such is as fraudulent as buckwheat meal and is just as objectionable. A sure test for long pepper as an adulterant in ground black pepper is to heat a piece of cold meat between two plates and sprinkle some of the suspected fresh long pepper on it, when the smell and flavor will be so offensive that one will feel obliged to reject the meat. The presence of long pepper may be determined by the following characteristics: