1 39 



rarely separately given. The United States Trade Returns for 

 1902, however, give a table of the imports of Vanilla into that 

 country for the decennial period ending in 1902, of which an ab- 

 stract is given below. 



Imports of Vanilla into the United States of America. 





Weights 



Value. 



Average 





lbs. 



t 



Value 

 per lb. 



S 



1894 



171,856 



727.85:. 



4-2 



1806 



235.763 



1,013,608 



4-2 



1899 



272.174 



1. 235412 



4-5 



1900 



225,966 



r. 209,334 



4-7 



1 90 1 



248,988 



875,229 



3-5 



1902 



36i,739 



859,399 



2.3 



These figures show that although there is at present no falling 

 off in the demand for Vanilla, there has been a great decline in 

 value. 



The same state of things is shewn by the results of the two 

 auctions held in London in February and November of the present 

 year. At the former, 2,800 tins were sold and at the latter 1,410 

 tins. These quantities are in excess of those of former years. The 

 prires obtained in February ranged from 22/6d. per lb. for best 

 qualities to 14/6//. for somewhat short chocolate coloured beans, 

 and 7/6 to 1 l/6d for " foxy brown " beans. In November the best 

 qualities realised only 17/ to ig/6d per lb. short beans from %j6d 

 to 11/ and poor qualities 4/ to 7/ per lb. 



It is almost impossible to give accurately the total annual pro- 

 duction of Vanilla at the present time, but it may be estimated at 

 about 250 tons, of which about 150 tons are produced in the British 

 Colonies and Bourbon, and the remainder in Mexico. Such statis- 

 tics as are available indicate that the total production has remained 

 almost stationary during the last few years, the increased out-put 

 from Seychelles and Mexico being compensated by small exports 

 from Mauritius and Bourbon. This being the case it is evident 

 that the depreciation in value of Vanilla must be ascribed almost 

 entirely to the competition of Vanillin as a flavouring agent. In 

 this connection it is desirable that it should be known that the so- 

 called "Artificial Vanillin " is identical in every respect with the' 

 Vanillin contained in Vanilla, and to which the flavour of the plant 

 is chiefly if not entirely due. For this reason it is not possible to 

 encourage proposals to prevent the sale of Vanillin as a "substitute" 

 for Yarilla. 



WYNDHAM R. DUNSTAN, 



?gt/i December , Jgoj. 



