Part 1

Bulletin No. 21, Division of Botany. PLATE I.

BULLETIN NO. 21. S. P. I., No. 2.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, DIVISION OF BOTANY.

VANILLA CULTURE AS PRACTICED IN THE SEYCHELLES ISLANDS.

S. J. GALBRAITH.

WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1898.

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction to Mr. Galbraith’s paper, by D. G. Fairchild 7

General conditions 9

Starting a vanillery 10

Preparing the vines for cropping 13

Pollination of the flowers 15

Curing the pods for market 17

Miscellaneous information and notes 21

Summary 23

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE.

PLATE I. Page.

Fig. 1, vanilla in flower--some of the flowers already grown into small pods; fig. 2, vanilla in fair crop, on bars and posts under shade Frontispiece

TEXT FIGURES.

FIG. 1. Hand pollination of the vanilla flower 16

FIG. 2. Plan of curing house 19

INTRODUCTION TO MR. GALBRAITH’S PAPER.

By D. G. FAIRCHILD.

The following paper on vanilla culture has been prepared by Mr. S. J. Galbraith, of Mahé, Seychelles Islands, who was for some time associated with Mr. W. T. Swingle, agricultural explorer of the Section of Seed and Plant Introduction, in the preparation of a joint memoir on the culture and disease of vanilla in those islands.

As the second part of the report, which deals with the disease, has not been completed, it seems desirable not to delay longer the publication of this part, relating to vanilla culture, inasmuch as it is practically complete in itself.

Although the vanilla is a plant native to America, its culture is now carried on most extensively and successfully in Bourbon, Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, and other islands lying in the Tropics in the Indian Ocean east of Africa, as well as in the Island of Tahiti in the South Pacific.