March 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
599 
as a provision to attract pollinatinfj insects, but 
which may possibly be an intluence in procuring 
dissemiiiatioii. 
The cultivated plants are trained to native living 
trees. Much care is necessary in selecting the 
sort of tree fur this purpose, in older to secure 
just tlie right degree of shade. Besides this 
there are many ideas prevalent among the cul- 
tivators, most of tliem probably fallacious, re- 
garding special influences which the supporting 
tree may have upon the growth of the plant. 
At Reunion artificial shade is employed, 
As has already been stated, the crop is very 
greatly increased by artificial pollination of the 
flowers. Most planters believe it best to pollinate 
but two or three flowers of each raceme, thougli 
some believe in pollinating five or six of them. 
At Reunion, and in some other localities, there is a 
complete absence of the necessary insects, and 
all pollination must be artificially performed. In 
such cases the mode of training the vines is 
modified by considerations of convenience in reach- 
ing the fiowers. The pollinating process is very 
simple, and is I'ajjidly performed. The pollen, 
which is granular in form, is situated directly 
above the stigma and scai'ccly a line distant 
from it. There is interposed between them how- 
ever, a little blade of tissue, which perfectly 
sejjarates them. Artificial pollination consists in 
holding the flower with the left hand, running 
a splinter of wood or bamboo underneath this 
separating partition, elevating and turning it 
backward, and at the same time pressing the 
up))er por'ion of the flower, bearing the pollen, 
downward upim the stigma with the finger of 
the left hand. 
The ])lant blooms in March, April and May, 
and tiie fruit should be gathered in the foUow-ing 
January or February, llnfoi tunately, the habit 
prevails in Mexico of stealing the fruit before it 
is harvested by the proper owner. This leads to 
a state of rivalry among the different sets of 
thieves and the owner of the plantation as to 
who .'^hall be, figuratively and literally speaking, 
the first in the field. As a result, a large part 
of the crop is harvested some two or three months 
before the proper season, and before it is in a 
condition to develop anytliing like its possible 
percentage of active constituent. A well-matured 
fruit, if also well cured, should become of a beautiful 
silvery white color, due to a crust of fine crystal? 
which develop upon it. This will not occur in the 
case of a fruit perniat'irely gathered {Fide Hires.) 
Very few raisers of Tanilla cure their crop, this 
being a separate industry, requiring great ex- 
perience, judgment and care, being restricted to 
the hands of a lew perscns and yielding a great 
profit. The curers purchase their beans from the 
producers. In curing, the fruits are placed bet- 
ween woollen blankets in a sweating-box and left 
there 36 hours. The exuded moisture has then 
to be very carefully dried od in the wiidday sun, 
or, if the weather is bad, in ovens. Tliis portion 
of the process is of the most critical character 
imaginable. It is said that overexposure of the 
fruits for even a small portion of an hour may 
result in a loss of weight extending to one pound 
perlhousand bears. On the other han.l, an under- 
exposure is likely to result in the moulding of 
fruit, tliis frequently taking place after it is 
packed, so that the packer is ignorant rliereof, 
and unaide to take any measure to prevent it. 
After thus <lrying, the fruits are again sweated 
ftnd again dried, this process being repeated as 
often as necessarj' until the fruits are quite black, 
and until the judgment, born of experience, 
teaches that they are in a suitable condition for 
being packed. The complete process of curing 
requires some three or four months. This curing 
process varies gieatly in different countries, and 
doubtless great improvements in it still remain to 
be discovered. In Rourbon they go through a pre- 
liminary sweating by exposure in tins to a steaming 
atmospiiere for a day. They are then carefully 
dried in the air for three or four days, indirectly 
exposed to tlie sun ; after which they are placed 
in air-tight boxes with trays of calcium chloride, 
for nearly a month, thus completing the curing 
process. 
Success has been attained by experiments con- 
sisting in immersing them for a lime in alcohol, 
in the manner in which tonka beans are treated. 
In Guiana they are buried in ashes and left until 
they begin to shrived, and then afterward painted 
with olive, oil. 
In Peiu they are dipped into boiling water, 
dried for 20 days, and then painted with castor oil. 
With the details of the sorting and packing 
process I have not time to deal. Twenty-one 
distinct lengths are recognized by the Mexican 
traders. The UniteJ States Consul at Vera Cruz 
says that a stem will yield about three pounds 
of dried fruit— of it first class, 1-.3 second class, 
the remainder third class. 
Vanilla packers are liable to certain peculiar 
accidents. Owing to the peculiar strain brought 
to bear upon the muscles of the hand in holding 
the bundle which is being made up, muscular 
cramps are developed, and the buncilers feel 
obliged to rest for four or live days after having 
worked for that length of time. 
The beans are .= aid by Mr. Hamilton, of the 
house of David E. Greene, to be poisonous to 
about 2-3 of those who handle the.m, the effects 
e.vtending only to those parts of the body which 
are exposed to contact witli the fruit. Much 
discussion has taken place in relation to the 
nature and origin of this poisoning, which takes 
the form of a fine rash, something like that 
produced by our poison ivy. It is impossible to 
discuss this question here, but I may say that 
it has seemed to me, after all that I have read 
in relation to it, that this is most likely due 
to the numerous needle-like crystals of calcium 
oxalate wdiich exist in the bean, than to any 
other cause. 
■ ♦ 
THE MICROSCOPICAL CHARACTERS 
OP VANILLA. 
By Smith Ely Jeliffe, m.d, 
structure of the fruit. 
In general it may be said that the dilTerent 
varieties of the vanilla fruit have an analogous 
structure. The form we have here is about 25 cm. 
long, about 10 mm. wide and Gmm. thick. The 
color is a rich dark brown, and it has an oily 
to resinous feel. It is longitudinally wrinkled 
and covered with a whitish crystalline deposit 
of vanillin. 
A transverse section shows that the fruit is 
elliptical, and the moderately thick walls enclose 
an irregular triangular cavity, into which several 
rili-like processes cxtenl. These are the placentae, 
and support the fine black seeds, which are very 
numerous. Each placenta is two-ranked. The 
interior of the cavity of the ovary is filled 
