66 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
WEIGHT OF PODS 
A fair crop of vanilla should weigh out at about 
100 cured pods to the pound. Galbraith gives the 
weights as follows : — 
9-in. pods . 66 to the pound 7-in. pods . 110 to the pound 
8-in. pods . 80 „ „ 6-in. pods .160 „ ,, 
VANILLISM 
This is the name given to an ailment caused to 
persons employed in handling vanilla. It takes the 
form of headache, gastric trouble, and urtication, or a 
kind of rash. The latter is perhaps caused by the 
crystals of oxalate of lime, which are so abundant all 
through the plant. The juice of the leaves and stalks 
of some species at least is very irritating to the skin, 
and the leaf of the cultivated vanilla is used as a 
blistering agent in Eeunion. That of the wild species 
of the Malay Peninsula, which produces a considerable 
amount of irritation on the softer part of the skin, is 
used by the Malays as a stimulant to the growth of the 
hair. 
DISTRIBUTION OF CULTIVATION 
In America. — Mexico, the original home of the 
plant, still , produces a large quantity of the spice, both 
from wild and from cultivated plants. The head- 
quarters of the cultivation is in the state of Vera Cruz. 
The greater part of the produce is sent to the United 
States. 
The amount exported for the years from 1883 to 
1893 are given as follows : — 
1883- 1884 . 
1884- 1885 . 
1885- 1886 . 
1886- 1887 . 
1887- 1888 . 
53,532 kilos 
52,165 „ 
43,878 „ 
43,575 „ 
28,064 „ 
1888- 1889 . 
1889- 1890 . 
1890- 1891 . 
1891- 1892 . 
1892- 1893 . 
73,144 kilos 
72,099 „ 
49,982 „ 
98,440 „ 
92,577 „ 
French Guiana, — Vanilla is hardly cultivated here, 
but there is a good deal of wild vanilla, and in 1898 
1500 kilos of pods were exported. 
