68 



SPICES 



CHAP. 



The yearly production varies between 3000 and 4000 

 kilos, of which nearly all goes to London. 



Reunion. The history of the introduction into this 

 island has been previously mentioned. It was first 

 brought in 1793, and again introduced on two later 

 occasions. Its cultivation began to increase largely in 

 1874, especially in the northern part of the island, 

 which seemed to give the best results. 



At present there are 4000 hectares under cultiva- 

 tion. The product takes the highest price in value of 

 any in the world except that of Mexico, and with care 

 might perhaps equal or eclipse that. 



The exportations are given as follows : 



. 52,217 kilos 



. 48,049 



. 85,847 



. 90,722 



. 94,282 



. 82,943 



. 82,000 



. 60,000 



. 65,000 



In 1904-1905, 75,000 kilos were exported. As will 

 be seen, this ranks only second to Mexico in bulk of 

 export. 



Madagascar. An account of the cultivation of 

 vanilla at Nossibe, in Madagascar, is given by M. Paul 

 des Grottes in the Journal <% agriculture tropicale, 

 which contains many suggestive notes and ideas. The 

 vanilla of Nossibe was, he says, considered by M. Simon, 

 the great vanilla merchant in Paris, to be in the near 

 future of the same rank as that of Bourbon, which is 

 considered the best next to that of Mexico, the finest in 

 the world. The Nossibe cultivations were made under 

 the shade of woods, the shade tree used being Albizzia 

 lebbek. The support, Jatropha curcas, is a compara- 

 tively small tree, but of fairly rapid growth, and occurs 

 in most parts of the tropics. But some planters having 

 remarked that the pods produced at the edge of the 



