228 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



July 22. 19n. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



A METHOD OF PRUNING VANILLA. 



An article appears in L'Ayriculture Pratique des Puyi 

 Chauds for January 1911, p. 33, which describes the experi- 

 ence and observations of its author, in regard to the pruning 

 of vanilla for the purpose of increasing its productivity. 

 The observations took place in the island of Mayotte 

 (Dapany), one of the Comores, where the successful method 

 that is described was originated. 



The author points out, first of all, that he was struck by 

 the different yields that were obtained from different ijlanta- 

 tions, in spite of their apparent uniformity; and by the fact 

 that if a con)|iari.son was made of the produce of different 

 plants in the same plantation, the variation of yield was even 

 more striking. The reasons given by the planters for this varia- 

 tion was the excessive delicateness of vanilla, for they consider 

 that it is impossible to express the behaviour of this plant in 

 the form of a few .simple statements, on account of its capri- 

 cious manner of growth. The author, however, was enabled to 

 make observations on the plantation where the regular system 

 of pruning, about to be described, is employed, and his expe- 

 rience thus obtained led him to conclude, on the contrary, 

 that the adoption of a method of pruning which had relation 

 to the manner of growth and life of the plant would repress 

 any tendency to irregularity, and enable the growth to be 

 controlled in a regular manner. Without doubt, the delicate 

 nature of the vanilla [ilant causes it to respond to the smallest 

 variation in the surroundings in which it lives, but its irregu- 

 larity of production is usually a result of the treatment it 

 receives. As a matter of fact, there does not exist, properly 

 speaking, a definite method of pruning for this plant, such as 

 those which have been devised for fruit trees or for the grape 

 vine; the ordinary methods are traditional rather than depen- 

 dent upon facts in the life-history of the plant. 



After referring to some of the methods of vanilla- 

 pruning that are most generally in vogue, consideration is 

 given to certain facts in the life of the |)lant, in order that it 

 may be shown how these led to the invention of a method of 

 pruning that has [iroved to bo eminently successful. It is 

 well known that the longer the distance the sap has to How 

 in a plant, the more does the fruiting become irregular and 

 delayed. Between a vine having a very long stem liranching 

 only two or three limes, and one of equal length but more 

 branched, the advantage is with the latter witli respect to 

 facility in the circulation of the sap, the regularity of fruit- 

 ing and the minimizing of the risk of accidents, as well as in 



other respects. Besides, the latter form, which can be 

 obtained by a pri'per application of the pinching of the bud 

 and of crooking the branche.s, allows the plant, to a certain 

 degree, to assume an ordinary shape, with a definite stalk 

 and branches. The application of the methods described 

 gives a plant having the following characteristics: (1) absence 

 of fruit from the piincipal stem, in which all the vigour is 

 employed for the conduction of the sap; (2) fructifications 

 borne on the secondary branches, the latter being easily regu- 

 lated Ijoth as regards number and length; (3) opportunity for 

 the suppression cf branches as soon as they have borne fruit, 

 the future fructifications being assured by the annual forma- 

 tion of fruiting branches. 



The following is a description of the method that has 

 been found successful: — 



(1) At the time of planting, the cutting is placed in 

 such a way that its extremity is left hanging over the 

 support, and it is jiinched back a few inches "above the 

 surface of the soil. The fact that vegetative activity will be 

 greatest at the upper part of the bend will cause one or two 

 branches to l)e formed at that place. If the hanging portion 

 or 'bow' (arron) .shows a tendency, nevertheless, to grow in 

 length at the end, it is pinched back afresh, in order to cause 

 the sap to be driven back, so that the formation of fruit is 

 favoured as well as the successful growth of the branches at 

 the bend. 



(2) When the bow (see above) has once formed fruit, it 

 is removed, and the two new branches are rolled around the 

 support (or crooked) in such a way that their ends, after pinch- 

 ing back, hang in their turn a few inches above the surface 

 of the soil. Each of these branches will behave like the 

 original cutting; that is to say, that at places near the upper 

 parts nf the bent portions new branches will arise, and at 

 the same time the hanging portions will form new hows which 

 will produce fruit. As before, when fruiting has taken place 

 a second pinching back will lie given. 



(3) After the pods have been picked, the bows are again 

 removed, and all or a certain part of the new branches are 

 crooked in the same way as this was done before. This pro- 

 cess is continued every year, so that the vanilla plant, if one 

 were to imagine that it grew on a fiat surface, would not 

 ai)pear, as in the ordinary ca.se, in the form of a very long 

 vine branched only two or three times, but as a kind of 

 stubby tuft, with numerous short sprigs. 



