7 
Vanilla Industry. 
The crop of vanilla, which is also dependent on the 
rainfall, was rednced to a little over 12 tons, valued at 
Rs 223,199. 
This is one of the shortest crops on record since 
1895, when the crop only reached 4^ tons. 
Tlie vines had suffered greatly from tlie drought 
which prevailed for the last 7 years, and in many loca¬ 
lities the shortage of rain had put a stoj) to the culture 
of this plant. 
However, at time of writing (April 1912), the vines, 
under the influence of the abundant rains which fell 
since November last, have started new growth even in 
those localities where this profitable industry had to be 
abandoned. On the contrary, a few prominent planters 
took up the culture of this orchid on modern lines and 
started manuring it, principally with lime, this salt 
having been found to play an important part in the 
food of vanilla in the experimental plantations at 
Capucin, as shown in my reports for 1908 and 1909. 
The process is to create beds in which vanilla is planted 
on jatropha] curcas (pignon dTnde) props after a tho¬ 
rough drainage and ploughing of the soil. Grass re¬ 
moved from the field is cut and laid to dry for a week 
or two and then heaped up over the bed, each new layer 
of dry weeds being followed by a sprinkling of lime 
(2 lbs per vine). Of course, such an application of 
lime causes the dry weeds to decompose more quickly, 
and this salt, combining with humus, forms an excel¬ 
lent medium for the roots of the vanilla vines. But 
this method of manuring is not a complete one, and I 
strongly advise planters to supplement the liming of 
their vanilla beds with a sprinkling of rock guano from the 
Outlying Islands, which contains nitrogen, a little po¬ 
tash, phosphates, magnesia, &c., in a more or less soluble 
form, because it is far better to put all the food ele¬ 
ments at the disposal of the orchid and not to count too 
much on the action of lime alone, which is effective 
only for a short time. I also recommend green manures 
being cultivated (tephrosia, crotolaria, &c) and used in 
the same way as the dry weeds in order to give more 
nitrogen to the soil in which vanilla is planted. Other 
weeds have not the same property of fixing atmospheric 
nitrogen. Ashes, specially from coconut husks, which con¬ 
tain 40 o/o of potash, should also be used to supplement 
the potash obtained from the guano, but ashes should 
never be used fresh as they are a little caustic in that 
state. When allowed to weather for about a fortnight 
or more, they are very beneficial. 
