Vol. 1. No. 5. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



67 



VANILLA. 



Cvdtivation in the Seychelles. 



In variou.s lucalitie.s in the West Indies attention 

 is being directed to the cultivation of Vanilla. Experi- 

 ments on the growth of the plants and curing of the 

 pods are being conducted at some of the Botanic 

 Stations, and planters are also jjutting the question of 

 the possibility of the industry in the West Indies 

 to a practical test. We have already referred in these 

 columns to the vanilla industry of the Seychelles 

 (Agricultural News, p. QO.) The most complete and 

 exhaustive account of the cultivation as practised in 

 those islands is that i>f Mr. S. J. (Jalbraith, published 

 in 189.5, as Bulletin No. //, Division of Botany, of 

 the U.S.A. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Galbraith 

 was ' for many years a successful planter in the 

 Seychelles and in a most fa\-oural}le position to write 

 on the subject.' 



We jii'opose to reproduce the greater portion of 

 this valuable publication in these pages. The present 

 article contains a sunnnary of the general conditions of 

 the industry in the Seychelles and the directions for 

 the arrangement of trees on which to train the vines : — 



(iENKRAI, CONDITION'S. 



' If keiJt free from disease the vanilla is a plant of 

 extraordinary vitality ; and in the Seychelles, where moi.sture 

 and heat, its main reijuirements, are hoth ample, the sort 

 of .soil it is grown in .seems to be of no great importance, 

 provided that, if it be very poor, the roots are kept well 

 supplied with manure. It is cultivated in the Seychelles from 

 near sea level to 1,K00 feet altitude, and does well (except 

 for di.sease) at all altituiles between these extremes.' 



The rainfall is about 100 inches in the low lands, and 

 10 to 30 per cent, greater in the hills. The fall is fairly 

 evenly distributed throughout tlie year, but a dry si)ell, 

 which is nece.ssaiy to l)ring vanilla into flower, is to be looked 

 for in Jul}', August, or September, while the lieaviest rains 



ino.st frecjuently come in Decend)er The 



range of shade temperature for day and night, from sea 

 l?vel to 1,S00 feet, may be put at 90" to 70' F. The 

 former is exceptional, the latter freipient. . . . The plant 

 does well in three very different types of soil, — a rich vege- 

 table mould, a grea.sy red clay, and a coarse cjuartz sand. 

 Though so luiiiromising to look at, the latter i.s, perhaps the 

 best of all. It gives free drainage to the roots, and in 

 wet years ])lant.s fixed on it are more likely to crop than 

 those on closer soils, while with ample manuring they grow 

 rema rkabl}' well. 



ARRANGEMENT OF PLANTATION. 



The manner of setting out jilantations in the Seychelles 

 lias undergone changes within the last twelve years. 

 Kornierly plantations were seen with the rows of vines 

 l>lanted so close together as scarce to leave room for workers 

 to [lass between them. The yield per acre under such 

 conditions was .sometimes enonnou.s, but when di.sea.se once 

 .started in a vanillery thus arranged, its destruction wa.s 

 rapid and complete, .so this system has been mostly given 

 iip. Since the lo.ss of so many clo.se-lined plantations, the 

 distance between the rows has been increased. Living wood, 

 i.e., small trees, are used as .supports for the vines, these 



being festooned from fork to fork, but many planters have 

 made use of hard wood pt)sts and bars, the former being 

 notched on top and the latter laid in the notches, resting thus 

 from \ to 6 feet from the ground, according to fancy. Over 

 these bars the plants are hung being loojied up as growth 

 is put on. Wire is .sometimes also used instead of horizontal 

 bars. It is much cheajier, but otherwise has disadvantages, 

 notable among which is that it sways with wind and is 

 liable to break the vines, the curvature being too sharp over 

 such a small round .surface. However, when plants thicken 

 into a ma.ss this last drawljack mostly disai)pears. 



A third, and, as the writer believes, nuicli better way of 

 growing vanilla, is now more generally coming into practice. 

 This is to plant each creeper on a tree of its own, and where 

 land is cheap it is an advantage if these are well apart. So 

 arranged, the general maintenance of a vanillery is certainly 

 more exi)ensive, inasnuich as isolated plants require more 

 manure than when the same number are closely grouped 

 together. The work of flower pollination and crop gather- 

 ing is also more laborious. But more than a counterpoise 

 to these disadvantages is the increased security this method 

 of planting gives against wholesale destruction from 

 disease ; for when so arranged a sick plant can be 

 removed and destroyed with greater chance of this being 

 done Ijefore any of its neighbours become affected ; ■« hereas 

 when growths of different plants are interwoven, either in 

 their roots or shoots, it is difficult to know when enough ha.s 

 been taken up, and there is every likelihood of the disease 

 beconung established beyond control. 



USE OF TREES AS SUPPORTS. 



To trive some notion of how a vanilla plantation is set 

 out and carried on in this Colony, it will be convenient to 

 assume that the tree method of planting is the one adopted. 

 A great variety of trees will serve the purpose. Here, on 

 most i)roperties, there is an abundance ready for the work ; 

 but of course where this is not the case, suitable trees nuist 

 first be planted. In, selecting trees those should be chosen 

 which do not grow too large, but give moderate foliage 

 (about half shade) without ever losing all their leaves at 

 once, and having plenty of branches from b to 7 feet from 

 the ground, affording forks enough to train the vines through. 

 °No hard and fast rule can be laid down as to the 

 distance trees should be ke[)t apart. Here, formerly, as above 

 stated, vanilla was grown in dense masses with great success 

 for a time. Elsewhere it may be advantageously .so grown 

 now. However, it is safe to state that overcrowding in any 

 kind of planting invites disease, and the farther plants are 

 kept apart the more likely are they to remain healthy. A 

 4-foot radius would be a moderate allowance for the loots of 

 a vigorous vanilla plant, and if 1 foot is kept clear around 

 the circle allowed to each plant's roots this would give 9 feet 

 as the distance between the trees. It would be difficult to 

 insure the plants being kept distinct in less space. Where 

 suitable trees are already growing on the land to be planted, 

 these can be thinned out if too close, or they may be left in 

 small lots of three or four or more together, a suffi- 

 cient clear space intervening between each lot ; but 

 in that case if one vine of a group showed disease the 

 whole would have to be removed. ilany trees stand 

 topping, and it is a great advantage ^heu they do, for on 

 being cut 7 feet or .so from the ground branches spring from 

 near the cut part at a convenient height, and the best 

 situated of those can be chosen to train the vines through, 

 the rest that grow awkwardly being removed. About 5 

 feet from the base is low enough to allow any to grow. 



(To he continued.) 



