1 June, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 479 
FERTILISATION OF THE FLOWERS. 
The plants will commence to flower in the second year after planting, and 
full crops may be expected in the fourth year. 
Fic. 1. 
Fic. 2. Fic. 4. 
A VANILLA FLOWER TO ILLUSTRATE THE METHOD OF ARTIFICIAL 
FERTILISATION. 
Fic. 1.—FLower OF VANILLA. 
A. Labellum. B. End of Column. 
Fig 2.—ENLARGED VIEW or Top or CoLuMN. 
C. Anther covered with hocd. 1), Stigma. E. Lamellum, 
Vic. phos an Tet ae SECTION THROUGH Top oF CoLUMN. 
). Stigma. E. Lamelltim. PP. Potlen masses, 
r Fic. 4.—ENLARGED SECTION THROUGH TOP OF Cotumn. bakes , 
D. Stigma. S. Stigmatic surface. P. Pollen mass adhering to viscid stigmatia 
surface. IE. Lamellum pushed up under the anther, which has the hood attached, 
In Central and South America, where the orchids grow wild, fertilisation 
of the flowers is effected by means of insects or other agency. The parts of 
the flower are so arranged that. self-pollination is impossible, and therefore it 
must be effected by some foreign agency. It is usually said that this agency is 
an insect one, but none of the writers on the vanilla give any description of 
the insect, or any particulars regarding it. The author of this book (Dr. 
Nicholl) once gathered a few vanilla pods from vines growing in his garden in 
Dominica; and as none of the flowers were artificially fertilised during that year, 
it is probable that pollination was effected by humming-birds, which were 
frequently seen to insert their long beaks into the flower for the purpose of 
abstracting the nectar. It is likely, therefore, that birds may have as much to 
do with fertilisation of the vanilla orchid as insects. In the cultivation of the 
plant, however, it will not do to depend upon such precarious agencies, and the 
planter, in order to ensure crops, must fertilise the plants himself. 
If the flower of the vanilla orchid be examined carefully, the outer floral 
envelope consisting of 3 sepals, and the inner one consisting of 3 petals, 
may be made out. ‘The lowest of the petals is very different from the others; 
