VANILLA , 65 



the vanilla. Macfarlane recommends making a scale on 

 a piece of paper pasted on a 2-in. strip of glass, so 

 that the scale can be seen through the glass, and em- 

 bedding it in putty in a hollow of the board, so that the 

 surface of the glass may be level with the surface of the 

 board. Placing the end with the strip of wood next 

 him, the operator takes the pods, and putting the flower 

 end next to the strip reads the length of the pod, and 

 thus sorts them by their length into piles, or into 

 compartments of a box. 



When sorted into lengths, the pods are made up 

 into bundles, and the following method is the one most 

 commonly used. 



Each packet contains fifty pods. First, sixteen of 

 the finest are put aside for the outside of the packet. 

 Then eight of the straightest are taken to form the 

 centre, the others ranged around these so as to fit 

 nicely together, and the sixteen finest put one by one 

 outside. They are tied up with a band of raphia-bast, 

 which goes twice round the bundle, a little below the 

 centre of the packet. The ends of the pods are pushed 

 in so that all are level and the bundle can stand on its 

 end, and a band of bast is tied round each end. 



Where bast is not easily obtainable, ordinary cotton 

 twine can be used for tying. 



The bundles are then packed into tin boxes contain- 

 ing 85 Ib. of vanilla each. 



Delteil says that no packing of paper or any 

 other material should be used to wrap the bundles. 

 Macfarlane, however, recommends the use of paraffin 

 paper, each bundle being wrapped separately. 



The advantage of this is that in case there is a bad 

 bean or two in a bundle that goes mouldy, this mould 

 will not spread to the other packets. 



The tins are now soldered up and put in wooden 

 cases holding three boxes apiece, and are ready for ship- 

 ment. 



