II 
61 
VANILLA 
Brought forward 
£32 
0 
0 
Plants, say ....... 
20 
0 
0 
Planting at 20s. an acre .... 
Tending till bearing for two years, including 
5 
0 
0 
supports, etc. . 
108 
0 
0 
Drying-house trays, sundries 
35 
0 
0 
Total 
£200 
0 
0 
This, however, he points out does not necessarily 
represent the capital necessary, especially in a case of 
a settler opening up a vanilla plantation as an auxiliary 
crop on his already running farm. In this case, allowing 
that he himself tended the plants till bearing, the outlay 
would be confined to brushing the scrub, cost of plants, 
and planting. 
The estimate is high on account of the higher cost 
of white labour than black, and on account of the high 
price of vanilla plants in Queensland at the time. If 
there were a demand among planters for stock, a 
Government Botanic Gardens should be able to supply 
them at two or three pence a piece. In another part 
of the tropics, where labour is much cheaper, the cost 
could be very materially reduced. 
He gives the profit as follows : ‘‘ Scrub brushed so 
as to leave 250 trees to the acre, and two vines to each 
tree, and producing on an average twenty-five to thirty 
pods per vine, which in turn on curing, average, say, 
125 to the lb., would give a return of 100 to 125 lb. 
of marketable vanilla to the acre, which at an average 
of 10s. a lb. represents £50 to £60 an acre. These 
figures, shown to be readily attainable by the experi- 
mental plot at Kamerunga, might possibly be exceeded 
by devoting more detailed attention to the plantation.” 
The profit per acre is given in the Seychelles at 
£250, and in Tahiti at £120 or so. 
Of course, where support-trees have to be planted or 
trellises made and kept up, these expenses would have 
to be reckoned, and there are the costs of preparing, 
packing, and shipping to be added ; still with all these 
there remains a very substantial profit even under 
