VANILLA 345 



height and in any direction, while in the French planta- 

 tions the vine is guided along trellises in such a way as 

 to permit of easy access. Another distinction has been 

 cited in that the Mexicans rely on natural methods for 

 fertilization of the flowers, while in Reunion the flowers 

 are fertilized artificially. 



The tendrils should be tied with several flat strips, 

 not round twine, as the latter seems to strangle the 

 plant. The bast or fiber from the leaf of Pandanus 

 vacoa is used for this purpose. The plantation should 

 not be too near the seashore, unless protected by forests 

 to ward off the salt air, which sickens the plants. Flow- 

 ers appear in March, and continue until May. 



FECUNDATION OF THE FLOWERS IN REUNION. Ob- 

 servation and some reflection have shown that the yield 

 of vanilla may be improved considerably by artificial 

 fecundation of the flower. In Mexico, where fertiliza- 

 tion is left to natural influences, the wind and the action 

 of insects, twelve to twenty-six inches of vine will pro- 

 duce about forty flowers, and only one pod, while all 

 the flowers might have been artificially fertilized. The 

 obstacle to spontaneous fertilization being the inter- 

 position of the labellum, (the upper lip of the stigmatic 

 orifice), between the stigma and the anther, artificial 

 fecundation was formerly effected in Reunion by 

 merely cutting away this obstacle. But later, following 

 the observation of a Creole slave, it was found as easy 

 simply to slip the labellum from under the anther, 

 whereby the latter organ comes into direct contact with 

 the stigma, thus effecting fertilization. Fecundation 

 must be carried out judiciously, to prevent the degen- 

 eration of the fruit; it is, for example, possible to obtain 

 as many as 3,500 pods on a single plant, but such a 



