64 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Junk i, i88j. 
Now, when the old days of farming are passing away, 
in which, according to a seventeenth century writer, 
'rains and clews, cold and dry winters, with stores of 
snow, I reckon to be the best kinds of manures, im- 
pregnated as they are with celestial nitres,' I cannot 
conclude b ttt-r than in the words of Liebig :— • A time 
will come when plants growing in a field, will be sup- 
plied with their appropriate manures prepared in chemi- 
cal fac'ories, and when plants will receive only 
su'-h substances as actually serve them as food.' Dctoid 
Swan, in N. B. Agriculturist. 
CULTIVATION OP VANILLA. 
The high price of vanilla should encourage the cull i va- 
tion of this plant in many of our Colonies, which are 
well adapted to its growth — .//. Oejlon, Queensland, New 
South Wales, the VVestludics, British Guiana and Honduras 
Fiji, and parts of New Zealand. Some portions of South 
Africa and many districts in India would no doubt also 
prove capable of yielding an abundant, supply of excellent 
vanilla. -Mauritius is at present our only Colony where 
the culture of this plant is systematically carried on, 
though small experiments have been made, with encourag- 
ing results, in Jamaica. 
As it requires spi cial treatment, a few remarks upon 
its cultivation may be of interest to those who may be 
temp ed to make the experiment. 
In Mexico, vanilla is planted either in a forest or in a 
field. In the former case the underbrush, climbers, and 
large trees are cut down and removed, and young sap- 
lings only preserved to serve as supports to the vanilla 
plant, preference being given to trees having a milky 
sap ; near each tree two cuttings of the vanilla plant are 
placed side by side in a shallow trench 1| inch deep, 
and sixteen inches long, three knots of the stem being 
laid in this trench and covered with dead leaves, brush, 
&c. The rest of the cutting to the extent of three or 
four feet is placed against the tree and tied to it. The 
supporting trees should not be nearer than twelve or 
fifteen feet apart, to give sufficient room for the develop- 
ment of the plant. After a month the cutting will have 
taken root and must he carefully kept free from weeds 
and briars of all kinds. In the third year the plant 
begins to bear fruit which it continues to yield for many 
years. 
When the vanilla is cultivated in a field the Mexicans 
fir t plough the ground thoroughly and raise on it, a 
cr p of maize In the pr tection afforded by this plant 
a number of young milk-bearing trees of the fig family 
grow, which in a out twelve or eighteen months are large 
enough to answer the purpose of supports to the vanilla 
plants which are then placed as above described, In 
Mexico and Cuiana the plant is allowed to climb up the 
trees, the fertilisation of the flowers is left to nature, 
and » large number of flowers consequently remain un- 
fertilised and the yield of vanilla is small. In a few days 
after fecundation the flower falls off aud the fruit con- 
tinues to grow till the end of the first month : it takes, 
how rer, another five months before it is completely ripe. 
Each pud must be gathered separately, and not the 
whole cluster at once, the time to gather them being 
indicated by the pod cracking when pressed with the 
fingers. If too ripe the poJs split in drying, changing 
in colour from yellow to brown and black. If not ripe 
enough the fruit will lack fragrancy and proper col ur. 
The ripe fruit has no odour at first, the agreeable odour 
of . anilla being developed by a process of curing While 
the fruit is drying, an unctuous dark red liquid, called 
balsam of vanilla, exudes. 
In Mexico the p ds are co lected and placed in heaps 
in a shed to protect them from rain and sunshine, and 
left there for a few days; they are then, if the weather 
is warm and clear, sprea'l early in the morning on a 
woollen blanket and expo ed to the direct rays of the sun; 
at about midday the blanket is folded round the beans, 
and the bundle left in the sun for the remainder of the 
day. In the evening it is enclosed in tight boxes 10 
"sweat" all the night. The next day the same treat- 
ment is adopted, and the beans, after exposure to the 
sun, acquire a dark coffee colour, the shade being deeper 
in proportion to the success of the " sweating" operation. 
If the 
bundles, 
small hi 
then wi 
which it 
containing the 
temperature h 
beans are intrc 
four hours aft 
and twelve ho 
then acquired 
veather is cloudy, the vanilla is collected into 
number of which are packed together into a 
, which is first wrapped with a woollen cloth, 
banana leaves, and finally with a -tout matting, 
irmly bound and sprinkled with water. An 
to 140° V (00 c C). and the bale- 
beans are placed in it. When tbf 
m to 113° F° (45° C.) the smaller 
nil the oven closed tightly. Twenty- 
i the smaller beans are taken out, 
■r the larger ones. The vanilla has 
J ho drying operation then commence?. The beans are 
s i read on matting and exposed to the sun every day for 
about two month-. When the drying is nearly complete 
it is finished in the shade in a dry place, and the pods 
are then tied up in small bundles* fur sale. 
In the island of Reunion a different method is adopted. 
In the first, place the vanilla plant is never allowed to 
grow out of human reach, the different trees on which 
it is supported being connected by pieces of bainhoo or 
other wo id, placed horizontally, su as to form a kind of 
lattice, on which the vanilla can spread freely. As the 
vanilla loves a moist soil, and will not bear a burning sun 
the trees are never cut down. If grown in a field the 
support chosen is usually the physic nut Jatropha liureas. 
on account of its rapid growth and abundant milky juice.* 
When the trees are ot sufficient size to shelter the plant, 
the cuttings are set beiween the trees in a trench, eight 
inches deep, and covered with dry leaves, straw and a 
little soil This is generally done in the rainy season, as 
the cutting requires frequent watering while it is taking- 
root. The shots are trained on the lattices when they 
have begun to grow freely, and in two year- are in full 
bearing. A length of stnm of twelve to twenty-six inches 
in a state of nature, although it may produce more than 
forty flowers, ra ely yields more than one pod— the fl wers 
being only capable of fertilisation by the aid of insects. 
A m ;ii named Edmund Albin,-, a former slave in Reunion, 
discovered that if the pollen of one flower was made by 
artificial means to fertilise the stigma of another flower, 
it was possible to obtain m re than 3,500 pods from a 
single plant, although this would cause the death of 
the plant before they could ripen. The method adopted, 
therefore, is to choose on each cluster the finest flowers, 
and only fertilise those presenting a larje and fleshy 
peduncle. The^e are known to be successfully fecundated, 
if the flower, instead of dropping off, remains and dries 
on the top of the fruit. When this is observed the rest 
of the flowers are cut off. 
When ripe the pods are sorted according to length' 
and scalded. The long ones are dipped into water at. 
194° F. (1)0° C.) during ten seconds, the medium ones 
fifteen seconds, and the s horter ones, one minute, or longer. 
They are then exposed to the snn between woollen 
blankets until they acquire the characteristic maroon 
colour, which occurs in about six or eight days. The 
pods are then spread on hurdles, and placed in garrets 
to dry gradually. As in this Colony the roofs are flat, 
and covered with tin, the garrets are in reality drying 
closets with a stream of warm air continually circulating 
through them. When the drying has proceeded so far as 
to allow the pod to be twisted easily round the finger, 
the operation called '' smoothing " begins; and this re- 
quires great care, as every bean must be passed through 
the finders from time to time, so as to spread the oil 
which exudes on the whole length of the bean, as the 
fermentation proceeds, for the lustre avid suppleness of 
the vanilla depend upon this treatment. The beans are 
also turned frequently, so as to ensure their drying equally 
on both sides. In a month the pods are dry, and are 
then sorted according to their length, and into the three 
following varieties : 1st. Fine vanilla, from eight to eleven 
inches long, glossy, dark br wn, and unctuous, and soon 
covered with minute, frost-like crystals, technically known 
as givre. 2nd. Woody vanilla, from six to eight inches 
long, lighter in colour, not glossy, presenting grey spots 
* How far the irritating property of vanida, which is 
sometimes manifested in vanilla ices, &c, may be duet, 
the growth of vanilla on an acid euphorbiaceons plant 
may be worthy of enquiry. The use of fig-trees, as in 
Mexico, would seem at all events to be safer and more 
udiciou--. 
