Vol. I. No. 9. 



THE AGllICULTURAL NEWS. 



133 



VANILLA. 



Cultivation in the Seychelles. 



(Condiuhd from jiiAge 1 17.) 

 CURINi; THE POUS FOR MARKET. 



There are many ditferent iiiode.s of preparing vanilla, 

 but for brevity'.s sake one alone will be described ; it is 

 probably the simplest, and appears to be as succes.sful as any 

 other. About 400 ot the longest pods are placed in a basket 

 and plunged into hot water (190" F.) for ten .seconds; this 

 is repeated twice, the dips being increased to twelve and 

 fifteen seconds respectively, with intervals of half a minute 

 between each two. After the third dip, when most of the 

 water has drained off, the pods are placed in a wooden box 

 or barrel lined with blanket.?, and closely covered up with 

 the .same material. When lot 1 is finished, 1 it 2 is similaily 

 treated, and for them the water may be a few degrees cooler, 

 or the dip|)ing times a tritte shortened ; and so also with lot 

 No. 3, while No. 4 may be treated as No. 2. Perhaps it is 

 as well to add that 190° F. is not an absolutely essential 

 heat, but it is about as high as it is safe to go ; while even 

 the longest pods may be adequately treated in water at 

 170° F. if they are kept in it long enough. An ex[)erienced 

 prejiarer will be guided more by the appearance of the pod 

 after each dip than by any fixed formula. When small 

 quantities are dealt with less heat is needed, and the above 

 figures are giveai for a boiler 22 inches in diameter by 12 

 inches deep. It is best to have gotid-sized boxes or barrels 

 to sweat the pods in, those holding 2,000 or 3,000 each 

 being preferal.)le, for the more pods there are together the 

 better heat is retained. The lots (1, 2, 3, and 4) should 

 be keiit apart, a fold of blanket being laid on each if all 

 go into one box. By the following morning they should 

 have changed to chocolate or [lUce colour, and are then 

 ready to .spread on the drying shelves ; but if there is a large 

 number together, and the heat has been well kept in, 

 they may be left for another twenty-four hours. 



A curing house for jireparing a crop up to 2,000 

 pounds (dry) may have the following dimensions and fixings: 

 30 feet long, 1-5 feet broad, 13 feet in height of walls. It 

 should be divided into four counterparts, two on the ground 

 and two above, each being ai)proximately 1-5 by 1-5 and 6i 

 feet high. One compartment on the ground floor is used as 

 a hot room, having a flue 2 feet wide covered with sheet 

 iron running through the centre. If the heat is too intense 

 from this, sand may be .sjirinklod on top to reduce it. Above 

 this iluc and around two sides of the hot chamber tiers of 

 shelves are fixed 6 inches apart, on which the i>ods are spread 

 to dry. The shelves may be conveniently made of laths, on 

 top of which mats or canvas can be laid, or fine-meslicdwire 

 netting would serve the same purpose, perhajis, better than 

 anything else. . . . The worker, sitting on the floor, keeps the 

 four lots of pods — long, medium, sliort, and split — distinct 

 on the shelves. This facilitates the sorting, the .short and split 

 pods needing to be examined sooner and oftener than the 

 longer and sound sorts, as they dry more rapidly. 



A good average heat for the hot chamber is 110° F. A 

 few degrees more or less does not matter, but jiods are apt to 

 dry too quicklj- if the heat is much greater. The slower the 

 progress the more uniform and better is the result. As they 

 begin to turn soft and show longitudinal wrinkles the i)ods 

 are removed from room 1 to 3, and after reaching a certain 

 degree of flexibility they pass on to the shelves in room 4 

 and there finish their curing. If kept too long in either a 

 hot or warm room the thin ends of pods shrink too quickly, 

 and this is to be avoided. In a large crop there are always 



some inferior, ill-nourished pods in which this occurs, but 

 the last remark will be useful to a begnnner. When fully 

 cured the pods are much wrinkled and pliable, bending ea.sily 

 around one's finger. There is considerable difference in the 

 degree of dryness preferred by different curers. If the 

 contents move easily all along a pod, without any imeven- 

 ne.ss being noticed when it is drawn between the finger and 

 thumb, it is nearly dry enough ; liut the right stage can only 

 be learneil by experience. When fini.shed thepods are well wiiied 

 with bits of .soft Hannel and thenkejit in boxes with closefitting 

 lids. It is lietter to sort them roughly into lengths as each day's 

 lot is put away, and tie up the various sizei in bundles of 

 about 200 each if the numbers allow of it, for they have 

 to be examined once or twice a week in order to remove the 

 moulded ones, and this is much more quickly done with 

 bundles than when they are loose. Moreover, it makes 

 the ultimate accurate measuring easier. Either at this time 

 or later the different qualities are more exactly separated, 

 none but faultless [lod.s, without scar or defect in curing, 

 being allowed in the first quality. The re.st rank as seconds, 

 etc. " The split jiods and the pods that have been cut on 

 account of mould are also kept distinct. It is well to keep 

 a crop at least three or four months before marketing. By 

 that time nearly all shaky pods that are liable to mould will 

 have shown themselves. All are then lueasured and tied ui> 

 in neat bundles of 50 pods each of even length, the pods 

 varying in length not more than one-eighth of an inch. 



The general sightliness of a marketed crop has much 

 influence on the price it will bring, and whatever whims 

 buyers get into their heads the producer must conform to or 

 suffer in pocket. Bundle tying is .something of an art, and 

 a deft hand at it is valuable. Sixteen or thereabouts of the 

 shaiiliest pods in each 50 are selected for the outside ; the 

 rest are tied uf) as a core, being keiit in position by a few- 

 turns of the fiber-tying cord, while the chosen sixteen are 

 carefully jilaced round them. The bundle is tied in either 

 three places, near each end and in the middle, or in two 

 places, an inch or more from the ends, according to the 

 length of bundle. The core-holding string is pulled out 

 before the final tie is fixed. Two-tie packets are boxed as 

 they are. With those of three ties buyers prefer that the 

 end" cords be removed before jiacking, to enable them to 

 examine the bundles inside and see if the contents are of 

 uniform (piality. If kept tied some time before being packed 

 the bundles set, as it were, and retain their neat shape. The 

 tin boxes used here for packing vanilla in measure 12i by 

 8.1 inches in width, are 41 inches deep, and hold about 12 

 pounds. Each box has a label pasted on it which bears the 

 grower's trade mark, the length and nundier of packets, their 

 (juality, and net weight, and a similar laliel is put inside. 

 As some chemical action is set up when vanilla rests in 

 contact with tin or iron, thin vegetable parchment pajier is 

 jilaced in the boxes to keep the two apart. The lids are then 

 sealed close with pasted paper and the tins packed in wooden 

 cases, six in each, and thus dispatched to market. 



Game Shooting at Barbuda. 



The folhjwing notice apjieared in the Lccwo.rd 

 IdaiuU Gazdtc. of July 10, 1902 :— ' Deer and other 

 game sliootiiig at Barbuda. Excellent .shooting can 

 be had at the above island during the months of July, 

 August, and September. Applications for licences to 

 shoot should be made to the Colonial Secretary at 

 Antigua. For further particulars apply to O. Nugent, 

 Esq., the Acting-Magistrate of Barbuda.' 



