Am.  Joub.  Pharm.  1 
Sep.  1, 1874.  ]" 
The  Vanilla. 
419. 
reckoned  for  one  ;  they  are  gathered  before  they  are  ripe.  The  fifth 
and  poorest  quality  is  called  basura  ;  the  fruit  is  very  small,  spotted,, 
and  much  cut  or  broken  about. 
The  following  is  another  method  of  preparing  vanilla  for  the  mar- 
ket :  About  12,000  of  the  pods  are  strung  together  by  their  lower 
end,  as  near  as  possible  to  the  footstalk  ;  "  the  whole  are  plunged  for 
an  instant  into  boiling  water  to  blanch  them ;  they  are  then  hung  up 
in  the  open  air  and  exposed  to  the  sun  for  a  few  hours.  By  some 
they  are  wrapped  in  woolen  cloths  to  sweat.  Next  day  they  are 
lightly  smeared  with  oil  by  means  of  a  feather  or  the  fingers,  and  are- 
surrounded  with  oiled  cotton,  to  prevent  the  valves  from  opening.  As 
they  become  dry,  on  inverting  their  upper  end  they  discharge  a  viscid 
liquor  from  it,  and  they  are  pressed  several  times  with  oiled  fingers 
to  promote  its  flow.  The  dried  pods,  like  the  berries  of  pepper,  change 
color  under  the  drying  operation,  grow  brown,  wrinkled,  soft,  and 
and  shrink  to  one-fourth  of  their  original  size.  In  this  state  they  are 
touched  a  second  time  with  oil,  but  very  sparingly,  because  with  too 
much  oil  they  would  loose  some  of  their  delicious  perfume." 
It  appears  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  cultivation  of  vanilla  in 
the  West  Indies  has  not  been  largely  undertaken,  as  it  would  be 
attended  with  but  little  difficulty,  and  would  be  a  source  of  much 
profit  to  the  inhabitants.  But  even  in  Caraccas  and  Guiana,  where 
the  plant  grows  profusely  in  a  wild  state,  it  is  entirely  neglected.  In 
the  Isle  of  Bourbon,  however,  it  has  been  cultivated  with  considerable 
success,  and  seventeen  and  a  half  tons  were  exported  from  Reunion  . 
in  1871.  At  Liege  it  is  grown,  on  a  small  scale,  to  the  value  of  600 , 
francs  per  annum;  and  a  plant  cultivated  at  Paris,  in  1810,  attained, 
the  height  of  three  yards,  and  yielded  117  pods,  which  ripened  ia 
twelve  months.  In  England  it  has  been  in  cultivation  since  1759  ; 
fine  examples  may  be  seen  in  the  tropical  and  economic  houses  at 
Kew.  Mr.  Ewing  and  Mr.  E.  Bennett  grew  the  vanilla  with  consid. 
erable  success  at  Osberton  ;  the  latter  gathered  no  less  than  300  ripe 
pods  off  a  single  plant  in  one  season.  He  considers  a  temperature  of 
from  50°  to  70°  to  be  most  suitable  for  it.  He  found  it  necessary  to 
effect  fertilization  by  artificial  means,  the  stigma  being  prevented  from 
receiving  the  pollen  of  its  own  flower  by  the  interposition  of  an  organ 
called  the  retinaculum. 
As  the  English-grown  pods  are  very  highly  flavored,  it  is  possible 
that  it  might  be  practicable  to  grow  it  for  economic  purposes.  The, 
