The Arizona champion., 1884-03-29
THE CULTIVATION OF VANILLA IN
 MEXICO.

In Mexico, vanilla is planted either in forest or in field. In the former case the underbrush, climbers and large trees are cut down and removed, and young saplings only preserved to serve as supports to the vanilla plant, prefer ence being given to trees having a milky sap. Near each tree two cuttings of the vanilla plant are placed side by side in shallow trench one and one- half inches deep and Is inches long, three knots oi the stem being laid in the trench, and covered with dead leaves, brush, etc. The rest of the cutting, to the extent of three or four feet, is placed against tree and tied to it. The supporting trees should not be nearer than l2 or l5 feet apart, to give sufficient room for the development of the plant. After a month the cutting will have taken root, and must be care fully kept from weeds and briers of all kinds. In the third year the plant be- gins to bear fruit, which it continues to yield for many years
 When the vanilla is cultivated in a field, the Mexcans first blow the ground thoroughly, and raise on it crop of | corn. In the protection afforded by this plant, a number of milk bearing trees of fig family grow, which in about F or Is months are large enough to answer as supports to the vanilla plants, which are then placed as above de- scribed. In Mexico and Guiana the plant is allowed to climb up the trees, the fertilization of the flowers is left to nature, and large number of flowers consequently remain unfertilized, and the yield of vanilla is small. In few days after fecundation the flower falls off and the fruit continues to grow till the end of the first month; it takes, however, another five months before it is completely ripe. Each pod must be gathered separately, and not the whole cluster at once, and the time to gather them being indicated by the pods crack ing, when pressed with the fingers. If too ripe, the pods split in drying, chang ing the color from yellow to brown and black. If not ripe enough, the fruit will lack fragrancy and proper color. The ripe fruit has no odor at first, the agreeable odor of vanilla being developed by process of curing. While the fruit is drying, an uncutuous dark red liquid called balsam of vanilla, excludes.
 In Mexico the pods are collected and placed in heaps in shed to protect them from rain and sunshine, and left there for few days; they are then, if the weather is warm and clear, spread early in the morning on a woolen blan- ket and exposed to the direct rays of the sun; at about midday the blanket is folded round the beans, and the bundle is left in the sun for the remainder of the day. In the evening it is enclosed in tight boxes to "sweat" all the night. The next day the same treatment is adopted, and the beans, after exposure to the sun, acquire dark coffee color, the shade being deeper in proportion to the success of the "sweating" operation. If the weather is cloudy, the vanilla is collected into bundles, a number of which are packed together in small bale, which is first wrapped with a woolen cloth, then with banana leaves, and finally with a stout mating, which is firmly bound and sprinkled with water. An oven is then heated to IA deg. F. (60 deg. O. and the bales containing the larger beans are placed in it. When the temperature has fallen to 113 deg. F.. GAS deg. C.), the smaller beans are introduced and the oven closed tightly. Twenty-four hours afterwards the smaller beans are taken out, and twelve hours later the larger ones. The vanilla has then acquired fine maroon color. The drying operation then com mences. The beans are spread on mat ting and exposed to the sun every day for two months. When the drying is completed it is finished in the shade in a dry place, and the pods are then tied up in small bundles for sale.-[ English Paper.
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