88 



THE MUSEUM. 



Vanilla and Its Cultivation- 



BY F. H. KNOWLTON, PH. D. 



We are so accustomed to speak of 

 vanilla as the product of the ' ' vanilla 

 bean," that perhaps few persons are 

 aware that it has no connection with 

 either the bean or the bean-family, 

 but is produced by a beautiful, sweet- 

 scented, climbing orchid. This wide- 

 spread error doubtless arose from the 

 fact that the vanilla capsule or pod, 

 which is slender, from 6 to lo inches 

 long and only | of an inch in diameter, 

 has a vague resemblance to certain 

 bean-pods. It is much more like the 

 pod of the so-called catalpa bean, 

 which also has nothing to do with the 

 true bean-family, being a begonia or 

 trumpet-flower. The name is, how- 

 ever, too firmly fixed in popular lan- 

 guage to attempt to change it. 



The orchid producing the vanilla 

 bean is know by botanists as J^ainlla 

 planifo/ia, and is a native of Mexico 

 and Tropical America. It has a thick, 

 fleshy stem, oval alternace fleshy 

 leaves, and a short spike of numerous 

 white or greenish white sweet-smelling 

 flowers that are curiously irregular in 

 shape like those in most of the or- 

 chids. The plant climbs over trees 

 and shrubs by means of numerous 

 slender rootlets sent out from each joint 

 of the stem, which cling to the bark 

 or other support. It was formerly 

 supposed that this orchid, like so many 

 of its relatives, was an epiphyte, that 

 is grew upon other plants, but derived 

 its nourishment wholly from the air, 

 but it is now known that such is not 

 the case. It maintains connection 

 with the soil throughout its whole life, 

 especially by means of the rootlets 

 which in the lower portion of the stem 



reach the ground. In its wild state it 

 climbs fifteen or twenty feet high, but 

 in cultivation it is usually kept down 

 within easy reach of the cultivator, for 

 much care must be taken not to injure 

 the unripe pods. 



The vanilla plant is always propa- 

 gated by means of cuttings. In Mex- 

 ico where it has been cultivated for 

 nearly or quite a century, it is custom- 

 ary to take portions of the stems two 

 or three feet long. The leaves are re- 

 moved from several of the lower joints 

 and usually three joints are laid under 

 the soil and covered to a depth of two 

 or three inches, and the upper por- 

 tions trained against the support pre- 

 pared for it. The soil has to be 

 especially prepared by trenching to a 

 depth of 1 8 inches and must have a 

 perfect drainage. The best soil is said 

 to consist of fine rich loam mixed with 

 equal parts of sand and leaf-mold. 



Something must be provided for the 

 vanilla plant to climb over, and rough- 

 barked living trees are perhaps the 

 best, but almost anything such as 

 rough, branching trees, trellis work, 

 stone pillars or stone walls, may be 

 utilized. The plants are best grown , 

 in moderate shade, yet a certain 

 amount of sunshine is required to 

 ripen the pod. 



In its native country the vanilla 

 flowers are fertilized by insects. That 

 is the flowers are so constructed that 

 it is absolutely imposible for the pol- 

 len to reach the stigma or immature 

 pod without external aid, and this of- 

 fice in Mexico and Central America is 

 performed by a peculiarly constructed 

 moth that visits the flower for the 

 nectar always present. The pollen- 

 mass consists of thousands of little 

 grains tied loosely together by deli- 



