II 
VANILLA 
27 
CULTIVATION 
Climate . — Vanilla requires a tropical climate, hot 
and moist, with frequent but not excessive rains. It 
cannot stand dryness nor strong sea-winds, nor does 
excessive regular moisture suit it. 
In the Singapore Botanic Gardens it grows very 
well and strong, but as its period for ripening the fruits 
coincides with the wet 
season, it cannot be 
cultivated in this region 
with much success, for 
if there should be heavy 
rain-storms during the 
ripening period, the 
pods are apt to fall off 
unripe and are spoilt. 
Both Vanilla plan- 
ifolia and V. pompona^ 
however, have pro- 
duced good pods there. 
As the flowers are 
usually produced in 
June and July, and the 
fruits ripen about De- 
cember or January, it 
is desirable to select a 
climate for it where the 
rains are not violent at 
the end of the year. Curiously, a wild species of vanilla, 
F. Griffithii, common all over the Malay Peninsula, 
flowers and fruits in almost the same months as the 
American species, but the heavy rains of December 
and January do not affect the ripening of its fruit. 
Unfortunately, this species does not possess the aromatic 
flavour and perfume of the American plant. 
The climates of the Mascarene Islands, the 
West Indies, and parts of the Polynesian Islands, 
such as Tahiti and Fiji, are those which suit it best. 
Vanilla Flowers, 
