66 



SPICES 



CHAP. 



WEIGHT OF PODS 



A fair crop of vanilla should weigh out at about 

 100 cured pods to the pound. Galbraith gives the 

 weights as follows : 



9-in. pods 

 8-in. pods 



66 to the pound 

 80 



7-in. pods 

 6-in. pods 



110 to the pound 

 160 



VANILLISM 



This is the name given to an ailment caused to 

 persons employed in handling vanilla. It takes the 

 form of headache, gastric trouble, and urtication, or a 

 kind of rash. The latter is perhaps caused by the 

 crystals of oxalate of lime, which are so abundant all 

 through the plant. The juice of the leaves and stalks 

 of some species at least is very irritating to the skin, 

 and the leaf of the cultivated vanilla is used as a 

 blistering agent in Keunion. That of the wild species 

 of the Malay Peninsula, which produces a considerable 

 amount of irritation on the softer part of the skin, is 

 used by the Malays as a stimulant to the growth of the 

 hair. 



DISTRIBUTION OF CULTIVATION 



In America. Mexico, the original home of the 

 plant, still produces a large quantity of the spice, both 

 from wild and from cultivated plants. The head- 

 quarters of the cultivation is in the state of Vera Cruz. 

 The greater part of the produce is sent to the United 

 States. 



The amount exported for the years from 1883 to 

 1893 are given as follows : 



1883-1884 

 1884-1885 

 1885-1886 

 1886-1887 

 1887-1888 



73,144 kilos 

 72,099 

 49,982 

 98,440 

 92,577 



French Guiana. Vanilla is hardly cultivated here, 

 but there is a good deal of wild vanilla, and in 1898 

 1500 kilos of pods were exported. 



