1 June, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AUUICULTURAL JOURNAL. 481 
the bundle. The latter.are then packed in closely fitting tin boxes, which 
are enclosed in rough wooden cases. In Guadeloupe, the bundles are put into 
clean kerosene oil tins, which are soldered up to exclude all air and moisture. 
We are not aware whether vanilla planting has ever been tried in Queens- 
land except as a curiosity in a botanic garden or by the Acclimatisation Society ; 
but Mr. F. M. Bailey, Government Botanist considers that the plant would 
thrive in the warm, moist, shady, scrub lands on the far northern coast of 
tropical Queensland, from Cardwell northwards. We believe that at one time 
plants were procurable at the Brisbane Botanic Garden, and they have been 
grown at the State Nursery, Kamerunga. 
The late Mr. B. Cowley, then manager of the nursery, said that the vanilla 
plant suffered there during the winter months. In its own essentially tropical 
habitat, the thermometer never goes so low as it occasionally does in North 
Queensland. There were many inquiries for the plant, but he thought that the 
east-end of New Guinea would be the most suitable locality in which to grow it 
commercially. He recommended the Plwmeria as the best support tree, and 
also that the trees should be planted 10 feet apart. The plants at Kamerunga 
ee ye healthy at the date of Mr. Cowley’s last report, but none had yet 
owered. 
HINTS ON THE PREPARATION OF VANILLA. 
During the year 1898, 5,261 tins vanilloes were offered for sale in London, 
and English manufacturers purchased fully 75 per cent. of the quantity 
disposed of. The London market is the best in the world for quick and 
complete disposal of vanilloes. At the first auction sales of 1899, 1,095 tins, 
. principally from the Seychelles were offered, and attracted world-wide attention. 
Orders were sent from America and many parts of Europe, but the English 
buyers took two-thirds of the lots sold; brown beans were scarce and dear, 
whilst good and fine qualities met splendid competition and sold at good prices. 
It appears that buyers who had to hold their stocks last year were serious 
losers, in consequence of the unusually large percentage of vanilloes which 
deteriorated by mould ; many experts considered the goods were hurried forward 
too soon and not thoroughly cured. iy Ty 
This being a most serious matter, the proprietors of Planting Opinion 
obtained permission from Messrs. Brookes and Green to print the “special 
hints” which we reproduce here from that excellent journal. The “ hints’” were 
published in 1888, but they apply to the harvesting and preparation of vanilla 
to-day as much as they did 11 years ago. ‘ ’ 
We wish first, however, to draw the attention of planters and agriculturists 
generally, in the truly tropical parts of Northern Queensland, to the value of 
vanilla as an exportable product, to the ease with which it can be cultivated in 
suitable localities, where the conditions of heat, moisture, and complete absence 
of frost are found. The real difficulty with this product lies in its preparation 
for the market, as will be seen later on. 
FERTILISATION. 
Self-fertilisation in the vanilla (especially some species) to any useful 
extent is rather an exception owing to the intervention of the reticulum, a 
portion of the inner face of the style; we have always understood that artificial 
fertilisation is desirable, the process consisting in removing the pollen from the 
anthers of the flower, and applying it to the stigma ; this can be done with a 
small camel hairbrush or the anther itself may be applied. This is best done 
at mid-day in bright weather, but if to avoid the heat early in the day is 
preferred, only dry mornings should be chosen for the work. 
HARVESTING THE VANILLA. 
When the pods are ripened, which mostly occurs in Mauritius towards the 
end of the month of June and throughout July, the work of harvesting 
commences ; the vanilla plants flower very irregularly, and, in consequence, all the 
