Vol. I. No. 8. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



11< 



over every other day. In removing the:n from tlie flouei' 

 stalk.s the pods are grasj)ed one by one near their attached 

 ends, very slight!}- twi.sted, and at the smie time 

 j)re.s.sed as'de with the thiimli. Tliey mu.st be taken 

 ofiF (jiiite ckan. If a bit of the flower stalk romes away 

 with a i)od, a.? sometimes will hapjien, it should be cut 



off smoothly. Any break or crack in the pod itself, however 

 near its butt, rinks it is as an inferior (juality. Huyers are 

 very particular in this resjiect. After each day's gathering, 

 before the pods are started on their first stage of curing, 

 it is well to s">rt them roughly into lour classes : 1, long; 

 2, medium ; 3, short, and 4, split. 



1 — Portion of stcui of Vanilla ]ilant, with 

 leaf, aerial rncit, and cluster of tinwers ; 

 It, front view nf Yaiiilla flower ; 'i. side 

 view ; c, aerial root, with root hairs. 



2— Single flower of Vanilla, exhibiting; the 

 fiis stiige in the j)rocess of artiticial 

 fertlization. The operator, jirovided 

 with a tinely-jiointed piece of bamboo, 

 divides the lip or labelluni medially, 

 so that the central lol)e is separated 

 from the two side lobes. This exposes 

 the column and organ of fecundation. 

 The instrument is represented as jilaced 

 against the column, ready to press 

 u]]wards the anther c, and bring the 

 poUinia in contact with the stigma b. 



3 — Single flower of Vanilla, e.xhibiting the 

 second stage in the jirocess of artiticial 

 fertilization ; h shows position of column 

 exjiosed by division of the lip [the 

 middle lobe of lip is ]iulled forward 

 anil curled ujion itself to show the 

 position of the cobnun ; the side lobes 

 of lij), separated as shown in Fig. 2, 

 arerepresented at back of the ciibnnn] ; 

 (I, the position of |)ollen masses, taken 

 from the anther and placed on the 

 stigma. 



-Enlarged front view of top 

 coluum ; a, the anther. 



:>f the 



5 — Enlarged side view of toji of the coluum ; 

 a, the anther ; />, the stigma or visced 

 surface on which the pollen masses 

 must be placed to ensure fertilization. 



6— Eidarged section through top of the 

 column ; ti, one of the pollen masses iii, 

 sifti ; 6, the stigmatic cavity. 



7 — Enlarged .section through top of the 

 column ; a, the pollen masses, having 

 been transferred from n. Fig. •>, are 

 now represented in contact with the 

 stigmatic surface. [Although diagram- 

 matically shown, these figures give a 

 tolerably good idea of what is actually 

 necessary in order to produce fertili- 

 zation in a Vanilla flower.] 



Fiu. 12. FKr.TiLiz.wiox ok ^'.\^ILL.v. 

 (From the Keif Btilletli,.) 



