THE VANILLA-PLANT. 645 



meriting on the fecundation of the vanilla at the Museum ; and in a 

 prize essay by H. Baillon the same fact is confirmed. "When the 

 sky was overcast," he writes, " and the temperature rather low, I had 

 to penetrate into the stigmatic antrum, in order there to place the 

 little pollen apparatus ; but, after the sun had made pretty warm the 

 greenhouse in which the plant was suspended, then, provided the con- 

 tents of the anther were not firmly attached to the top of the pins on 

 which they were borne, they would become detached from it on being 

 brought within a certain distance from the stigma, and, being strongly 

 attracted, would shoot like an arrow into the cavity." This curious 

 observation appears to be without precedent save in this plant ; it is 

 certainly of a character to interest the physiologist. 



Darwin has observed a strange movement of the pollinia in the 

 flowers of Catasetum, which, under the influence of innervation, " were 

 shot forth to the distance of two or three feet " ; but here the phenom- 

 enon is purely mechanical. 



The first travelers who observed the vanilla in the wild state have 

 asserted that it grows in low, moist situations near the seacoast ; but 

 in later times it has been found in the forests, and is known to occur 

 in divers parts in Central America. 



The number of species of the vanilla-plant is not clearly deter- 

 mined. Of types cultivated in Mexico there are twelve, and of these 

 five are reckoned as distinct species. One of these species, the Vanilla 

 lee, embraces six varieties. Delteil gives a list of species cultivated in 

 different countries ; it is as follows : In Mexico, Vanilla sativa, V. sil- 

 vestris, V. planifolia, and V. pompona ; in Guiana, V. .guianensis, 

 with yellow flowers and large fruit ; at Bahia, V. palmarum ; in Bra- 

 zil and Peru, Linne's V. aromatica, which possesses less fragrance 

 than the others. In Reunion two sorts are cultivated, both of them 

 apparently varieties of V. planifolia. 



Under the title of vanillon is found in commerce a short, thick 

 vanilla-pod, produced by V. pompona, the fruit of which is of far less 

 value than that of the V. planifolia. 



Now that the cultivation of vanilla is widely extended, the fine 

 quality of beans can be had at from one hundred and eighty to two 

 hundred and fifty francs per kilogramme. But when it is " frosted," 

 i. e., covered with needles of vanillin, it may fetch a higher price. Va- 

 nillon is worth about one fourth as much as vanilla. 



Vanilla plantations, to be profitable, require great and constant 

 care. The plants are multiplied by cuttings. The cuttings should 

 bear three or four leaves, and may be a metre or over in length. 

 Rainy and hot seasons are chosen by preference for planting. The 

 cuttings must be planted in rows apart, in a soil rich in vegetable molds 

 fertilized with the decaying leaves and branches of plants, especially 

 of the banana. Each cutting should have a prop, and the ground at 

 its root is to be kept moist by a heap of stones around the stem. 



