II 
VANILLA 
49 
but occasionally two or three are open at once in the 
same raceme. The best time for fertilisation is from 
eight o’clock in the morning till one or two o’clock in 
the afternoon. The flowers take badly when the fertilisa- 
tion is done during rain or in a prolonged drought, but 
when there has been rain on the previous day fertilisation 
succeeds very well. 
The number of flowers which can be properly 
fertilised by one individual in a day’s work has been 
variously stated. Macfarlane says that a quick worker 
with the vines close together and full of bloom can 
fertilise 3000 a day, and from 1500 to 2000 is a 
good average number. Some writers say that 6000 
can be done by a man in the day, but this seems 
absolutely impossible. The day’s work commences at 
7 A.M. and ends at 3 p.m., when the flowers begin to 
close, and are no longer fit for fertilising. 
METHOD OF FERTILISING 
The only instrument required for this operation is a 
small pointed stick of any kind of wood, or a splinter of 
bamboo, the size and shape of a toothpick, but by 
preference sharpened at both ends so as to save time in 
use, as it does not then matter which end is employed. 
A good number are made and carried in the brim of the 
hat, or in the coat, so that if one is dropped no time 
need be wasted in looking for it. With this instrument 
the operator must transfer the pollen masses to the 
stigma of the flower. The flower is held in the left 
hand and the lip pressed down so as to expose the 
column, which is held between the finger and thumb. 
The anther cap and the rostellum which covers the 
stigma are lifted or pushed up with the stick, the upper 
part of the column being so held that by the pressure of 
the thumb and finger the anther cup rises, exposing the 
pollen covered by it. Now the pollen-masses are removed 
by the point of the stick, to which they will adhere, and 
placed in the stigma below the rostellum (see page 50). 
E 
