8 
I took the liberty to take these beans and the extracts made from part of them to 
the Flavoring Extract Manufacturers' Association's convention in Chicago and found 
the convention highly interested in them. It was their opinion that "Grade B " was 
very fine and " Grade A " a good second-class bean. 
These reports indicate both the good quality of vanilla produced 
in Porto Rico and a ready market for it. 
The 1917 crop was picked from September 14, 1917, to January 21, 
1918. It was the yield from a tenth-acre plat on which 42 plants, or 
seven-ninths of the total, were in production, the others either not 
fruiting or having been excluded from the recorded yield as diseased. 
The dried beans as marketed occupied a trifle less than 1 cubic foot 
of space, weighed 36.44 pounds, and were sold in New York at $3 
per pound, producing a gross return of $109.31. Though $3 a pound 
was offered by two firms a number of offers were only around $2. 
This crop is shown in Plate I and is discussed in the following pages. 
Prospective planters, in considering the returns obtained by this 
station and the returns which they themselves may obtain, should 
remember that Porto Rican vanilla is a new crop which has not as 
yet established for itself a place in the markets, and with its quality 
not generally known certain difficulties in marketing may be ex- 
pected to present themselves to pioneers. 
STARTING A VANILLERY. 
In selecting a site for a vanillery, several things are to be desired, 
such as a loamy soil, abundant humus, not too steep a slope, and 
protection from strong winds. 
While vanilla can be made to thrive on almost any soil by the 
addition of plenty of decaying vegetable matter, if the mechanical 
condition of the soil is such that it can be easily penetrated by the 
coarse succulent roots of the vanilla, so much the better. Such soils, 
though not common, are to be found in various parts of the island. 
One type occasionally seen in the interior which would seem admir- 
ably adapted is full of numerous small stones and so friable that it 
easily crumbles underfoot. 
If the land slopes steeply it should unquestionably be terraced. 
As little can be done to the land after the vanillery is established 
except to clean it and add humus-forming materials, terracing 
should be done before the vanilla is set. A leaf mulch is very im- 
portant, and, as in both pollinating and harvesting the crop the 
vines will have to be gone over frequently, unless the land is ter- 
raced this repeated walking around the vines will make the mainte- 
nance of a mulch very difficult on any but flat or gently sloping 
land. 
The succulent, tender, heavy, pendent growth of the vines lays 
them open to damage from strong winds. In most locations, the 
supporting tree will furnish sufficient protection against the wind, 
