VANILLA plant has been introduced into India, Bourbon and Mauritius during the 19th century. It adapts itself readily to the climate, can be easily propagated and cultivated, occupies very little space and the fruit is valuable. All the coffee distric'ts are admirably adapted to the vanilla, but in Ceylon and in parts of the Neil gherries and the Wynad, the plant -will not grow in the shade, as it does in Mexico and Brazil, and when trained on trees it soon gets out of reach, which is inconvenient, as the flowers require to be artificially impregnated. -- Vanilla has grown well in the LalBagh, Banga lore. It was planted in a mixture of leaf-mould and sand, and trained to climb stone pillars seven feet high and three feet apart, with cross pieces atop to form a lattice - work for branches to cling to. Rough bark- trees, such a.s the mango, will also serve as supports for the . plant.
flowers the third year of planting, but does not produce fruit unless artificially fertilized.
In its native country the plant continues to bear' from thirty to forty years, and yields, in ordinary seasons, front forty t,o fifty pods annually, or, say, half a pound weight, so that each plant may be considered equivalent in value to twenty rupees per annum.
M. Geneve of the Mauritius found the plants grow better when ' supported by the Moringa pterygosperma, the Avocado or alligator pear, Persea gratissima, and the Bixa orellana.
The pods should be carefully dried, by exposing them on cloth to the sun's rays, and, while warm, they should be wrapped in woollen, which pro motes evaporation, and at the same One absorbs the moisture. When thus treated, the pods blacken and put on a silvery lustre. On this appearing, they must be again exposed to the sun and thoroughly dried. A fully-developed and properly-ripeued pod should be from six to seven inches long, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and of a very dark-brown colour, almost approaching to black. They should also be moist, and if properly ripened before being packed, they become after a time covered with a circular crystal, which adds to their appearance and marketable value.