II 
VANILLA 
51 
one flower to the stigma of another. This is the natural 
method of fertilisation, but it takes a little longer time, 
and there is certainly a risk of dropping the pollen or 
having it accidentally brushed off during the transfer, 
but it would probably produce larger and finer fruits. 
The operation is by no means so difficult as from 
the above account it might appear to be. With a very 
little practice it is easily and satisfactorily performed, 
and I have found no difficulty in teaching natives to 
perform it successfully. 
The planter should, however, examine the flowers 
while the workmen are operating so as to make sure 
that the pollen is being properly put into the stigma. 
After successful fertilisation the flower quickly com- 
mences to wither, and soon the petals and sepals fall off, 
but the column remains attached to the top of the ovary, 
which is below the petals, and so remains till the fruit 
is nearly ripe. If the operation has failed and the 
flower is not fertilised, the column falls off with the 
petals. Macfarlane says that though flowers fertilised 
after three o’clock (that is to say, when they have begun 
to wither) will take, the column is apt to fail off earlier 
than it should, and if so the fruit will be shorter and con- 
sequently of less value. In heavy rain the pollen masses 
become soft, and though the fruits may develop they 
are not so large or fine, and the column soon drops ofl*. 
This is quite intelligible, for when the pollen enters 
the stigma it puts out the pollen tubes, which, following 
down the centre of the column, enter the ovules in the 
ovary, and it is not till this has happened that the fruit 
is fertilised, so that if the flower has begun to fade or 
much of the pollen is spoilt by the rain, only a few of 
the ovules may be fertilised, and this imperfect fertilisa- 
tion would undoubtedly produce imperfectly developed 
fruits. The ideal fertilisation would be the natural one 
of fertilising one flower by another, as is always done in 
nature, and the injury caused by imperfect fertilisation, 
as above described, certainly suggests that cross- 
fertilisation would give a higher standard of fruit. 
