36 



VANILLA IN SEYCHELLES. 



Articles on .Vanilla have appeared in Bulletin for October, 1898 r 

 with a drawing showing method of pollination and in Bulletins for 

 February, 1896 and March, 1900. The drawing is also reproduced in 

 the Bulletin for June, 1800. 



The Administrator of the Seychelles in his Annual Report for 1899^ 

 advises that a vanilla plantation should not be started with a smaller 

 capital than £1,000, as a crop cannot be expected under three years. 

 Suitable vanilla land, in Seychelles easily accessible, cannot be pur- 

 chased under Bs. 300 an acre, and, even at this price, is not readily 

 obtainable. The Crown has there in the hills a few hundred acres of 

 land, suitable for vanilla for lease on terms of nine years, with the 

 option of renewal for a further term of five years. 



Under the old system, ramely, plantiDg on bars, wires, &c, from 

 1,200 to 1,300 vines were planted per acre. Vanilla is now planted 

 on live trees, and the number of vines planted depends on the number 

 of trees growing on the land. Cuttings of quick-growing shrubs are 

 now often planted in vacant spots, and after three months vines ere 

 then planted on them. Vines are planted six feet long, and will begin 

 to bear three years after planting, but will only reach their prime in 

 three years more. Vines are worth from Rs. 4 to Rs. 8 per 100, ac- 

 cording to the district. The wages of men employed on Vanilla plan- 

 tations vary from Rs. 12 to Rs. 14 a month, and of women from Rs. 6 

 to Rs. 8, in both cases without rations. Labourers on hill estates are 

 not easy to get, and, as a rule, the African labourers prefer working 

 on moitie or share system. A man can plant 300 cuttings of vines a 

 day, and can keep in good order throughout the year 2,500 plants. 

 "Women are employed for pollinating the flowers, i.e., removing the 

 pollen from the anther of the flower £nd applying it to the stigma, 

 without which operation the flower is lost. No flowers can be polli- 

 nated af'er midday. A woman can pollinate from 6C0 to 800 flowers 

 per day. 



Each vine can produce from 25 to 30 pods of different sizes, fromfour 

 inches to eight inches long. On an average, 130 green pods go to one 

 lb., of prepared vanilla, the pods shrinking considerably in prepara- 

 tion, and losing a quarter of their weight. The preparation of vanilla 

 has much improved of late years. Sun-drying is no longer in vogue. 

 Nearly all vanilla is now cured in properly constructed drying rooms, 

 heated with hot air. The French method of steaming the freshly- 

 picked vanilla pods has been tried, but the boiling-water process is 

 generlly adopted. 



*' The local price for vanilla varies. In 1899 fine prepared pods 

 fetched Rs. 16 to Rs. 18 per lb. 



" This year the price is from Rs. 14 to Rs. 16. Green pods are now 

 being sold at Rs. 10 per 100 pods. 



The regular flowering season is from August to December. The 

 cost of preparation represents from Rs. 1 to Rs. 1.50 per lb. The 

 pods are gathered about nine months after the flowers have been pol- 

 linated, and are cured in from three to four months. In Seychelles, 

 as in other vanilla producing countries, there are bad seasons, when 

 owing to excessive rain, the yield of the vine is poor. A present*, 



