June 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. 
867 
country is bound to be constructed soon, and 
when "(as it is well known) Mr, Riiodes and liis 
Beini-Mashonaland Itailway Company are in- 
lei-esLed in tlie line to tap the B.S.A. Company 
territory North of the Zambezi, and beyond this 
protectorate, is a sure guarantee of a railway 
be'w^ b'lilt from Chironio through the planting 
districts, wliieh show no engineering ditlicultics, 
at no very distant date. 
Oixr present means of transport are very unsatis- 
factory and traffic gets congested every dry season 
and tiiousands of labourers are e-upioyed for 
transport when they might be utilized for agricul- 
tural purposes. 
Missionaries and trading Companies ai'e deter- 
mined to have the railway carried ri^ht to_ their 
ve;y door in Blantyre, irrespective of t!ie future 
requirements or the development of oilier parts 
of the country. 
TEA 
is a success here : it grows fast and flashes well 
all the year rouml, with the exception of about 
two months, and the quality, flavour and strength 
compare fairly well with Ceylon's medium ele- 
vation tea. Not to trust to my own opinion, I 
sent a flush to an eKperieiiced Ceylon planter 
to make and taste and he pronounced it as 
excellent tea and a good marketable article. I 
have planted up a few acres and intend to ex- 
tend, although there is a fear of over production 
and lower i)rices. Our cheap labour (2d per diem) 
will enable us to compete with Ceylon and India, 
if not Cliina. 
The tea introduced into the country by the 
Blaat\re Mission (which most old planters have 
got a"' few bushes of) is not of a superior jat; 
but I have seen many worse in Ceylon, and it 
seems to suit our climate well, which is the great 
hing. 
This country seems to be the home of the 
TOBACCO 
plant and should become a great competitor of 
Cuba, Manila, and other countries if acreage 
and soil is to be considered. 
Ceylon seems to be in a bad way, what 
with low prices for tea, and exchange 
unfavourable. I am sure a lot of old worn- 
out coffee lands, which would hardly grow 
weeds in my day, and I see are now (by recognised 
names) llo'urisliing tea propsrties, cannot yield 
many hundred pounds per acre, oOO or 400, which 
I presume is required to make them pay e.\pen- 
diture alone, leaving out of the question profit 
or even interest on capital invested. You must 
a:o in for quality and keep up your good name 
for purity. A friend of mine, latley, wrote to a 
friend in Ce., Ion for some tea and the sUill' sent 
was s) beastly bad that he could not drink it, 
and had to buy J. T. Morton's Darjeeling tea from 
a local slioii-keeper. 
This stull' makes me think th.at the old appu 
dodge, wddch [ often saw in my kitchen, of 
drying master's tea le ves out of tiie tea pot 
over The kitchen lire, is siill going on: for sale 
to whom I don't know for [ never took the 
trouble to enquire ; but it mig'.it be wort h while 
the "Thirty Conunitten" of liiiding out what be- 
comes of the Ceylon's cook's di ied tea leaves. 
is'. — Duuraven, Mlangi, l.'Jth Marcli. 1899, We 
have had iv very good ye ar, and a decent crop is 
maturing on the trees nearly everywhere and 
people and prospects are looking much brighter 
than they were when I wrote the above letter. 
THE VANILLA. BEAN IN MEXICO. 
The State of Vera, Cruz has bsen considered the 
horns of the vanilln, but recant developments shoTV 
that vanilla caa be cultivated in the State of Tobacco 
and on the Isthmus of Tehuaateneo. The true home 
of the vauilla, where it flourishes the bast in its wdd 
state, is ii narrow strip about 30 miles wid-j, 5 miles 
from tha coast, and 90 miles long. The upper end 
of this strip is about 5t) miles south of Tiimpico, and 
extends along the coast 90 miles towsirds the city of 
Vera Cruz, the bottoms along t'ne Taxp^n, Casonez, 
and Nautla rivers, and the creeks contiguous, consti- 
tute the richer parts. Here the cultivated varieties 
yield most without artificisd fecuudatiou, either on 
account of the number of wild bees in the locality or 
by self-poUenation, which some claim as impossible. 
The United States Consul at Tnxpan says that 
ARTIFICIAlj FECUNDATION 
must be practised ' in order to produce the 
beans in commercial quantities. The vanilla 
plant is a vine of a bright green colour, with a smooth, 
waxy, transparent bark. It has a thick, waxy-looking 
leaf, light green in colour, 6 to 9 inches long, Ig to 2 
inches v/ide, and sharply pointed. The vine reaches 
out tendrils which cling tightly to its tree support, 
but do not, as some believe, draw nourishment from 
the tree. The best time to set out; the vines, or rather 
cuttiugs, is in April or May, The cuttings are the 
vines divided into lengths, usually 2j to .3 faet long. 
Some of these can be cut in two according to the 
number of joints. Two to three joints are suflioient 
to put under the ground, with iha same numbar of 
joints above ground. The joints are easy to propa- 
gate, in fact they are hard co kill if kep.i from being 
bruised. A. cattiuCT can be kept in the house on a dry 
shelf, and will livo for months with scarcely any 
apparent change. In making a vanilla plantaiion 
much dopsnds upon the selection of location. The 
first thing is to have the plantation where the pilfer- 
ing of the beaus while rips ling Ciu he prevented. A 
vanilla plantation need not be large ; a few acres, 
with care and proper fecuudatiou, will soon produce 
excellent results from a monetary point of view. 
Patient care and attention at the proper time is the 
chief Jseoret of success. 
THE VINE , REQUIRES RICH SOIIj, 
heat, ventilation, shade, and moisture. Rich pockets 
of land along the creeks a id river bottoms are bast. 
A profusion of wild vines of all kinds growing into a 
jungle, with abundant loose soil affording ventilation 
at the roots, is the bast proof of the adaptability of 
the laud. The land should be free from sand on 
account of the drought, and free from clay, which 
would cause the vines to rot during the ro.iny season. 
There should be plenty of small trees, at the feet of 
which the vines can be planted. Trees v/hich have 
smooth b u-k, and which never shed their bark or 
leaves, and grow to be no longer tlian 2 to 4 inches 
iji diameter and from 7 to 10 feet high, are best for 
this purpose. Usually a variety of such grow on all 
wild lands, and any of them are good if the trunk of 
the tree be smooth, with plenty of sap. A small 
orange tea affords a good trunk for vauiUa to grow to. 
If, while clearing the laud, there be not enough of 
such trees found already growing, to plant the desired 
number of vines (there should be from 1,500 to 2 000 
vines to tha acre) enough should be planted, selectiug 
the kinds that make the most rapid growth, which 
exist in abuudttice, and are destroyed by the 
thousands inne udy every new clearing of land. The 
ground should be kept clean from weeds. All nnder- 
growtli should be thrown around the vinos co decay 
and serve as manure for the roots. The ctrouud 
around the roots should not be disturbed. One or 
two vines should bo planted t'> ea.;li tiee, and tied at 
fii-st to the truuk with some Hat, lloxiblo baud, such 
as strips of coconut leaves or plantain tiurt^. Round 
oord should not bu u^ed, as it is li.itde lo cut and 
injure the green, succulont stem of the vioo. Live- 
stock aio never permitted on a vauilla ptutlutioo. The 
stems and roots of thoviue are disturbed us little as 
possible. 
