IX VANILLA 209 



will be secured. Fertilisation should be commenced about The hour to 

 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning, for if it be left too late pollina- Ajwer^/^^ 

 tion may be incomplete, or fail altogether. The fruit goes on 

 growing for a month, but it will take at least five months 

 longer to ripen sufficiently for harvesting. The pods are to Gathering 

 be gathered when they begin to turn yellow at their ends, or ^^^ ^ 

 when they produce a crackling sensation on being pressed 

 lightly between the fingers. Each pod should be gathered 

 separately, by being bent to one side, when it will snap off 

 the stem. It is very important to gather the pods at the 

 right time, for if they be too ripe they will split'open in curing ; 

 and if too green, they are dried with difficulty, and they will 

 have little or no perfume. 



Curing.— After the beans are gathered they are plunged The pods to 

 for half a minute in hot water that is almost boiling. They j'nto hof ^^ 

 are then put on mats to drain dry, and afterwards they are water. 

 spread out on blankets and exposed to the sun. Every even- bilnkfts°" 

 ing they are rolled up in the blankets, and shut up in tight 

 boxes to ferment. The sunning process is continued for a straighten- 

 week, or until the pods become brown and pliable, when they '"S the pods, 

 are squeezed between the fingers to straighten them, and to 

 cause the seeds and oily substance inside to be evenly dis- 

 tributed. Should any of the pods split they should be closed Binding up 

 up and bound round tightly with silk thread or narrow tape, poj/^^"^ 

 As they dry and shrivel the thread should be unwound and 

 the pods tied up again. When the pods are brown, the dry- 

 ing process should be finished in the shade, which may take 

 many weeks. Sometimes the beans are slightly anointed 

 with castor or olive oil, but this cannot be recommended as 

 the oil may become rancid, and thus spoil the product. 



Packing. — The dried beans are to be sorted according to sorting. 

 their length, the long thin ones being the most valuable. 

 Beans of the same length are to be tied in bundles of twenty- 



