THE MUSEUM. 



89 



cate cobwebby hairs. The mass has 

 a sticky disk that adheres to anything 

 touching it and is torn bodily from its 

 pocket. 



When ihe vanilla plant was first in- 

 troduced into the West and East In- 

 dies it poved for a time a great disap- 

 pointment. The plants grew vigorous- 

 ly and produced an abundance of fine 

 flowers but no pods. All sorts of ex- 

 pedients were tried in the way of cul- 

 tivation, but to no av^il, and the cul- 

 tivation was about to be abandoned, 

 when the fact was discovered that the 

 particular moth that fertilized it in 

 Mexico was absent from its new home 

 and consequently the plants were not 

 able to set pods. After this, artificial 

 pollinization was resorted to, and the 

 pods were produced in characteristic 

 abundance. The instrument with 

 which this is accomplished may be a 

 long needle or splint of bamboo, four 

 or five inches long. It requires only 

 a moment to do this, and one person 

 may properly fertilize as many as a 

 thousand flowers in a single morning. 



The plants usually begin to flower 

 the second year after planting, but do 

 not reach maturity until the third and 

 fourth years. The pods require a 

 month to reach full size and six 

 months more in which to ripen. The 

 proper time for gathering the pods is 

 determined by the appearance of a 

 slight yellow tinge at one end or when 

 they crackle slightly when pinched be- 

 tween the fingers. Theprocess of cur- 

 ing is a long and somewhat complicated 

 one, requiring in some cases as long as 

 three months. Curiously enough the 

 aroma of vanilla is said not to pre- 

 exist in the pods, but to be produced 

 by a process of fermentation. In Re- 

 union, where it is extensively culti- 



vated, the pods are placed in a basket 

 and plunged for half a minute into 

 very hot, but not quite boiling water. 

 They are then placed on mats to drain 

 after which, for the next six or eight 

 days, they are exposed, between wool- 

 en blankets, to the sun, but kept in 

 closed tin boxes during the night to 

 undergo a slight fermentation. When 

 the pods have become brown and soft 

 they are placed in the shade to dry, 

 care being taken that they do not 

 mold. Daily they are carefully 

 pressed between the fingers, slightly 

 annointed with oil, which renders 

 them supple and lustrous. When the 

 pods are perfectly cured they are of a 

 rich, dark chocolate color, pliable in 

 texture, and perfectly free from moist- 

 ure. 



In Mexico the curing is somewhat 

 different. After gathering, the pods 

 are placed under sheds in heaps until 

 they begin to shrivel. Then they are 

 allowed to ferment slightly, after 

 which they are exposed to the sun in 

 woolen blankets during the day and 

 kept in air-tight tin boxes at night. 

 At the end of a day or a day and a 

 half they have assumed a rich, choc- 

 olate brown color. They are then 

 placed in the sun for two months or 

 more to dry, at the end of which time 

 they are, like the others spoken of, 

 pliable and free from moisture. 



When finally prepared the pods are 

 sorted according to lengths and tied 

 up in bundles of 50 and the bundles 

 are packed in air-tight tin boxes. 

 When properly prepared and in what 

 is called 'prime condition' the vanilla 

 pods become covered with a frosting 

 of little needle-like crystals of vanillic 

 acid, are soft when pressed between. 



