43 
SEASONS. 
There was practically no rain for seven months this year, 
e the rainy season was shorter and the rainfall lighter than for 
the past five years. 
The following is the record of the rainfall for 1897 :— 
January ©... m. i vv HAE 
February ; oes »" 
[arch » 
April 
May 0:13 
June 1:65 
uly 
August 10°27 
September 11°84 
tober 
November.. = " : 0-13 
December ... iw x ii CE, 
Total for the year .. 33°61 inches. 
The Harmattan set in during the first week n December. It 
did some slight damage to the plants in the statio 
21. The ire for seeds, plants, fruits, etc., mi during the 
year were £14 9s 
(Signed) WALTER HAYDON. 
Curator. 
DXGVIIL—NEW METHOD OF DRYING VANILLA 
POD 
In the Kew Bulletin (1896, p. 224) a note appeared giving a 
brief account of a method of drying vanilla pods by ns of 
chloride of lime in course of trial at the French island of Réunion. 
Fuller has are now to hand in a report from Her Majesty’s 
Consul, addressed to as Marquess of Salisbury (F.O. No. 1965, 
Ann oe Betis 1897) :— 
Explanatory Notes as to the Drying of Vanilla by Chloride of 
Calcium. 
The object aimed at in the treatment of vanilla, is to endow it 
with keeping dicti and at the same time to develop the 
perfume which has not yet come into being at the moment of 
cropping. 
Pods of the best quality should e perfectly smooth, and 
without excrescences or holes. he longer the pods, and the 
nda perfumed they are, without acidity, the more valuable is 
t illa. 
Sli success of the treatment of vanilla depends upon the 
bestowed upon it, and especially upon the state of Mea 
of t the pods, 
