White pepper is from the same plant as black pepper, with the difference, that to make white pepper the pepper corns are not picked until fully ripe; they are then soaked in water for 7 or 8 days, or heaped up so that the pulp ferments, then they are rubbed by hand, or on a coarse cloth, if the quantity be small, or trampled under foot if the quantity be large; this operation deprives them of the pulpy skin or husk, and the greenish-white seeds which remain are the white peppers of commerce; then they are re-dried, either in the sun or by artificial heat. White pepper is bleached whiter by a chemical process. If the berries be left on the vines until over-ripe they lose their pulpy husk by natural decay and thus become actually white pepper, altho in reality they are the kernels of black pepper. Singapore white are berries cultivated in the neighboring islands and the husks are removed at Singapore by hand and friction before the berries are fully dried. Penang white is really grown at Sumatra, but imported into Penang in a dried state. There the berries are soaked in lime and water for several weeks, until the pulp is soft, when it is rubbed off by hand and washing; the berries are then re-dried. Siam white are berries prepared in the same manner as Singapore white, from berries grown in Siam. The dried black peppers, as imported, are also decorticated or deprived of their husks by machinery, the result being white pepper, which is sometimes bleached. The active properties of pepper are an acrid resin, a volatile oil, and a crystallizable, colorless substance called pipertine, or peperic. Why white pepper should be preferred before the black is one of the anomalies of the trade. White pepper has really only about a quarter the strength of black pepper, and is the least economical to use for these reasons: (1) Because of being allowed to ripen it loses much of its pungency. (2) Because it is deprived of the outer skin or husk, which contains much of the constituents which go to make good pepper. (3) Because it contains scarcely a trace of piperin, one of the most active principles of pepper. Pepper rapidly deteriorates under atmospheric influences, and large stocks should not be carried unless provisions are made for storing it in air-tight receptacles, for, unless this precaution is taken, the goods in a few months will have lost their pungency, which is an essential characteristic of good pepper. Pepper is a stimulant, and used in moderate quantities is an aid to digestion. In India an infusion of it is used to create an appetite and as a cure for gout and palsy. It is also used in cases of cholera-morbus. A liniment is made from the berries for rheumatism, and the root is employed as a tonic stimulant and cordial. CUMIN, OR CUMMIN SEED Also Caraway, Coriander, Cardimons, Poppy, Aniseed, Saffron and Turmeric Described. Cumin, or Cummin Seed