344 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



The Reunion plantation, according to Delteuil, was 

 started by Perrottet (239) in 1839. The cultivation of 

 vanilla for the purpose of export was subsequently 

 introduced into other French colonies, e. g. into Mauri- 

 tius by M. Richard (550), into Guadaloupe in 1875, 

 Martinique, Ste. Marie (near Madagascar), and into 

 Tahiti of the Society Islands. In Jamaica, individual 

 attempts to cultivate vanilla are on record. Its cultiva- 

 tion in Calcutta, however, according to reports by 

 Dr. King, seems to be a failure. (Phar. Journ. & 

 Trans., Nov., 1876). Suggestions have been made of a 

 more energetic prosecution of its culture in Jamaica, 

 in Venezuela and Guiana; also of its introduction into 

 the extreme southern parts of the United States, 

 Florida and Texas. (Am. Journ. Phar., 1857). 



CULTIVATION OF VANILLA. Vanilla may be propa- 

 gated from seeds, or, as the vine produces adventitious 

 roots, by cuttings. The latter method is almost exclu- 

 sively employed, conducted now according to methods 

 established more than a hundred years ago. (See 

 article by Ph. Miller in the Gardener's Dictionary, 

 1763). A warm and moist climate, sandy soil, moist 

 but not marshy, a mixture of shade and sunshine, the 

 shade predominating, are essential to its successful culti- 

 vation. The temperature should average from 75 to 

 80 F., but should not fall below 65 F. in winter. An 

 extremely high temperature is -likewise disastrous. 

 Dr. King of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens (1876), 

 reported that an extremely high temperature caused 

 pod-laden plants to drop their fruit prematurely. 



Vanilla plantations in Mexico differ from those in the 

 French dominion (Reunion), in that in Mexico the 

 vanilla growers permit the vine to climb trees to any 



