II 
VANILLA 
53 
The fruit is at first dark green and smooth, but 
when it is ripe it becomes yellowish. In Vanilla 
pompona, which is not liable to split, the pod is left 
until it becomes quite distinctly yellow, or even until 
the lower end becomes brownish. 
The pods of Vanilla planifolia have a tendency to 
split in ripening, which, should it occur, reduces their 
value as a commercial product. The pod cannot for this 
reason be left to hang long on the plant, and is gathered 
when it begins to turn yellow in the lower part, or even 
when the line along the side becomes yellow. Care 
must be taken, however, not to cut them too soon. 
During the ripening attention must be paid to the 
position of the pods, to see that they hang straight down 
and are not curved or bent. As the flowers appear one 
by one on the raceme, the fruits will also ripen one by 
one, so that those at the upper end of the hanging 
bunch will be ripe long before those at the lower end 
are ripe. 
A fully ripe pod of V. planifolia is a cylindric, 
fleshy capsule about 5 or 6 in. long and ^ in. thick. 
That of V. pompona is shorter and thicker. 
It is quite scentless, not developing its pleasant 
scent till the fermentation produced in curing takes 
place. During this process it passes from a yellow 
colour to a dark chocolate brown tint, and as it dries 
has a tendency to split more or less completely into two 
valves, one of which is larger than the other, and is 
grooved down the centre. 
The seeds are very numerous, minute, and black. 
They are surrounded by a dark-coloured oil known as 
balsam of vanilla. Those of the cultivated plants 
(which it will be remembered are self- fertilised) are 
usually sterile. 
Formerly many attempts were made to raise the 
plant from seed in Bourbon and elsewhere, but without 
success. Orchids are usually troublesome to raise from 
seed, but probably the self-fertilisation of the flowers 
in the cultivated plants was the cause of the failure. 
