SiPT. 1, 1902.J THE TROPICAL 
AGKICtlLTURIST. 
VANILLA, 
CULTIVATION IN' THE SEYCHELLES. 
In various looalities in tlie West Indies attention 
is being directed to the eiiltivo-tiou of Vanilla. Experi- 
ments on the growth of the plauta and curing of the 
pods are being conducted at some of the Botanic 
Stations, and planters are also putting the question of 
the possibility of the industry in the West Indies 
toa practical test. We have already referred in these 
columns to the vanilla industry of the Seychelles 
{Agrindtural News, \i. GO.) The most complete and 
exhaustive account of the cultivation as practised in 
those islands is that of Mr. S. J. Galbraitb, publishe i 
in 1895, as Bulletin No. ,91, Division of Botany, of 
the U.S.A. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Galbrailh 
was ' for many years a successful planter in the 
Seychelles and in a most favourable position to write 
on the subject.' 
We propose to reproduce the greater portion of 
this valuable publication in these pages. The present 
article contains a summary of the general conditions 
of the industry in the Seychelles and the directions for 
the arrangement of trees on which to train the 
vines :— 
GENERAL CONDITIONS. 
" If kept free from disease the vanilla is a plant of 
eitraordinary vitality ; and in the Seychelles, where 
moisture and heat, its main requirements, are both 
ample, the sort of soil it is grown seems to bo of no 
great importauce, provided that, if it be very poor, 
the roots are kept well supplied with manure. It is 
cultivated in the Seychelles from near sea level to 
1,800 feet altitude, and does well (except for disease) 
at all altitudes between those extremes.' 
The rainfall is about 100 inches in the low lands and 
10 to 30 per cent, greater in the hilts. The fall is 
fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, but a dry 
spell, which is necessary to bring vanilla into flower, is 
to be looked for in July, August, or September, while 
the heaviest rains most frequently come in December. 
The range of shade temperature for day and night, 
from sea level to 1,800 feet, may be put at 90° to 70° F. 
The former is exceptional, the latter frequent. The 
plant does well in three very different types of soil, — a 
rich vegetable mould, a greasy red clay, and a coarse 
quartz sand. Though so unpromising to look at, the 
latter is, perhaps the best of all. It gives free 
drainage to the roots, and in wet years plants fixed on 
it are more likely to crop than those on closer soils, 
while with ample manuring they grow remarkably 
well. 
AREANGEHENT OF PLANTATION. 
The manner of setting out plantations in the 
Seychelles has undergone changes within the last 
years. Formerly plantations were seen with the rows 
of vines planted so close together as scarce to leave 
room for workers to pass between them. The yield 
per acre under such conditions was sometimes enor- 
mous, but when disease once started in a vanillery 
thus arranged, its destruction was rapid and complete, 
80 this system has been mostly given up. Since the 
loss of so many close-lined plantations, the distance 
between the rows has been increased. Living wood, 
i.e., small trees, are used as supports for the vines, 
these being festooned from fork to fork, but many 
planters have made use of hard wood posts and bars, 
tho former being notched on top and the latter laid in 
the notches resting thus fioni 4 to 6 feet from the 
gi'oui!d, aocoicling to fancy. Over these bars the 
plants are hung being looped up ut growth is put on. 
Wire is sometimes also used iuste id of horizontal bars. 
It is much cheaper, but ollierwi^e has disadvantages 
notable among which is that it sways with wind and is 
liable to break the viues, the curvature being too sharp 
over snch a small round surface. However, when 
plants thicken into a mass this last drawback mostly 
disappears. 
A third, and, as the writer believes, much better 
■nay of gioning vanill*, is now m«r9 gensrally coming 
20 
into practice. This is to plant each creeper on ei tre« 
of its own, and where land is cheap it is an advantage 
it these are well apart. So arranged, the general 
maintenance of a vanillery is certainly more expen- 
sive, inasmuch as isolated plants require more 
manure than when the same number are closely 
grouped together. The work of flower pollination and 
crop gathering is also more laborious. But mora 
than a counterpoise to these disadvantages in the 
increased security this method of planting gives 
against wholeuale destruction from diaeaf.0 ; for when 
so arranged a sick plant can be removed and destroyed 
with greater chance of this being done before any 
of its neighbours become affected ; whereas when 
growths of difl'orent plants are interwoven, either in 
their roots or shoots, it is difficult to know when 
enough has been taken up and thera is every likeli- 
hood of the disease becoming established beyoud 
control. 
USE OP THEKS AS SWPBORTS. 
To give some notion of how a vatiUla plantation ii 
set out and carried on in this Colony, it will be aon- 
venient to assume that tho tree method of planting 
is the one adopted. A great variety of trees will 
serve the purpose. Here, on most properties, ther* 
is an abundiince ready for the work ; but of coursa 
where this is not the case, suitable trees must first 
be planted. In selecting trees those should be chosen 
which do not grow too large, but give moderate 
foliage (about half shade) without ever losing all 
their leaves at once, and having plenty of branches 
from o to 7 feet from the ground, affording forks 
enough to train the vines through. 
No hard and fast rule can be laid down as to the 
distance trees should be kept apart. Here, formerly 
as above stated, vanilla was grown in dense masses 
with great success for a time. Elsewhere it may ba 
advantageously so grown now. However, it is safe to 
state that overcrowding in any kind of planting 
invites disease, and the farther plants are kept apart 
the more likely are they to remain healthy. A 4- 
foot radius would be a moderate allowance for the 
roots of a vigorous vanilla plant, and it 1 foot is 
kept clear around the circle allowed to each plant's 
roots this would give 9 feet as the distance between 
the trees. It would be difficult to insure the plantg 
being kept distinct in less space. Where suitable 
trees are already growing on the land to be planted 
these can be thinned out if too close, or they may 
be left in small lots of three or fourgormore together, 
a sufficient clear spaco intervening batween eaoh 
lot ; but in that case it one vine of a group showed 
disease the whole would have to be removed. Many 
trees stand topping, and it is a great advantage 
when they do, for on being cut 7 feet or so from the 
ground branches spring from near the out part at a 
convenient height, and the best situated of those 
can be chosen to train the vines through, the rest 
that grow awkwardly being removed. About 5 feet 
from the base is low enough to allow any to 
grow. 
PLANTING. 
Trees being in readiness, planting may be done at 
any time of year here. If during a wet spell, vanilla 
will sprout all the quicker; should it be dry, ths 
plants will delay a little, but there is no fear of their 
missing if properly planted, and the one danger point 
to guard is where the vine leaves the earth. This 
part of the vine is burnt through if not shaded with 
grass or leaves. However, this also would only mean 
a little delay in the start of growth ; for though 
they take sometime longer about it, vanilla cuttings 
will grow well enough if merely tied to the trees 
with their lower ends some inches clear of the 
ground. Illustrative of the extreme vitality of plants 
under adverse conditions, it may be mentioned that 
in neglected plantations, where the vites have been 
allowed to climb well up into the branches of good- 
sized trees, and then been broken in attempting to 
get them down, the broken portions, sometimes partly 
swinging free, hav« remained green and oapabU of 
