95 
[ Enclosure. | 
ADMINISTRATOR of the SEYCHELLES to COLONIAL OFFICE, 
Government House, eer. pee 
r 16, 1897. 
TE have the honour to inform you that I have fer asled to you 
by this mail a specimen of vanilla, which was given to me by 
r. D'Emmerez, the owner of Amitee Estate, Praslin, and which 
is one of the finest samples of vanilla I have see 
I went og da this estate when lately at Praha and was much 
ig with its appearance and that t of the neighbouring estate 
* Cote d'Or, " APER last year -produced about £5,000 worth of 
vanilla: 
Some of the Seychelles vanilla sent home last year was pro- 
jotted by experts to be the finest ever seen on the London 
market, and the bundle I am sending will show how well the 
Prepar tto of vanilla is now understood in the Dependency. 
have, etc., 
(Signed) H. COCKBURN STEWART, 
The Right Honourable Administrator. 
J. Chamberlain, M.P. 
ROYAL GARDENS, KEW, to COLONIAL OFFICE. 
Roya abet Kew, December 28, 1897. 
1 "have the honour to acknow ledge the receipt of your letter 
of December 6, transmitting a ioni of vanilla grown in the 
ney chelles 
I now enclose, for "i information of the Secretary of State, 
a ea report upon 
am, etc., 
(Signed) W. T. THISELTON-DYER. 
H. Bertram Cox, Esq., 
Downing Street, S. W. 
[Enclosure. ] 
Report by Mr. A. C. Meyjes, of the Chemist and Druggist, on a 
sample of vanilla grown in porche es and received through the 
Colonial e ce ^I 
“The pod you have sent is an unusually fine and long one. 
Vanilla of this Shavacter would Jah realise about 26s. or 27s. 
per lb. gross in the London market at the present time. From 
that figure must be deducted certain tale allow ances, brokerage, 
&c., amounting altogether to about 10 per cent. But your friends 
should be careful to € the vanilla together in bundles containing 
pods all of the same length, or at least not varying more than 
l-inch, because the pods are paid by length as well as by 
appearance. And further, I am afraid that the prices of vanilla 
are on the decline. They have been unusually high this year, 
and after Christmas gr trade demand is apt to drop. Moreover, 
vanilla-growing must have been a very profitable business during 
the past few seasons baa the usual result, viz., over-production is 
sure to follow. Strange to say, vanillin (the coal-tar product) has 
never been so cheap as now. The consumption of vanilla pas 
however, is MM every year and likely to continue to do 
for a long tim 
