166 MOZAMBIQUE 



opportunity, holding on tenaciously with its 

 clinging roots. 



When it does this it must be torn down and 

 looped over the supports in order that it may 

 not get out of reach, and also that its aerial 

 roots may develop and strike down into the soil. 



There are three systems of supporting the 

 vines, the simplest being by fences of posts and 

 rails or wire. The objection to this system is 

 that the fences rot in time and must be renewed, 

 and that the vines intertwine and grow into a 

 tangled mass excluding the light and air, in- 

 capable of being pruned. The second system, 

 that of planting rows of live supports in the 

 form of fences, is open to the same objection 

 of inducing an unwieldy mass of creepers 

 impossible to control. 



The best method is to plant the cuttings two 

 or three close together in rows 6 or 9 feet 

 apart, the same distance separating the groups 

 of cuttings in the rows. Each group carries one 

 vanilla plant, which can be trained and pruned 

 and controlled as required. 



The most suitable plant on this coast for live 

 supports is the physic nut tree, Jatroijha curcas, 

 common in Lourenzo Marques and throughout 

 the Province. The pergolas of jatropha at 

 Manhica, one of the botanical features of the 



