48 
SPICES 
CHAPo 
In no case, however, should all or nearly all of the 
flowers be fertilised ; opinions vary as to how many 
should be fertilised on each raceme, but it is generally 
agreed that some of the terminal flowers should be 
removed. 
In some cases ten fruits may be allowed to ripen on 
each raceme ; in the case of weaker plants two or three 
are quite enough. Macfarlane, in dealing with Vanilla 
pompona, would fertilise from 8 to 15 flowers on each 
raceme, and later removing the shorter beans, would 
reduce the number from 6 to 12, fertilising one-fifth 
more flowers than he intended to keep. 
Vanilla planifolia should have fewer developing 
fruits kept than V. pompona. 
If the price is highest for the longest fruits, as indeed 
it usually is, it is recommended to reduce the number of 
flowers to be fertilised to fewer, and so get a smaller 
number of large first-class fruits in preference to a larger 
number of smaller ones. 
In order to prevent the plants from being soon worn 
out by over-production, Delteil recommends that the 
plantation should be divided into four equal portions, 
and that only one of these should be fertilised each 
year. Thus at the end of four years from the time 
that the plants commence to flower the whole vanillery 
will have undergone fertilisation once only and, thanks 
to this prudent method, the plants which have had a 
rest of three years between each crop will last a very 
long time and will not be worn out in a few years. 
Thus the planter, though he gets a smaller return at first, 
will be certain of seeing his crops constant for many 
years without the necessity of replanting. 
The flowers remain open for one day only, so that if 
there is a heavy bloom on the plants extra labour will 
be required during the flowering season. Women and 
children are generally employed for the work of fertilising 
the flowers, as they are quicker and more skilful with 
their fingers than men. 
The flowers open one by one on the raceme each day, 
