The Dickinson press., 1888-04-21
THE VANILLA BEAN.
ITS CULTURE AND VALUE AS A
COMMERCIAL COMMODITY.

How the Beans Arc Prepared for the
Markct-A Picture That Is Not Par.
ticularlS Charming-Curing the Beans.
Prices and Markets.
Cortez Boza1ris Petletro, of Mexico, was at
n hotel the other evening. To a reporter no
said:
"lf did not intend to 80 back to Mexico
l could tell You some things about the coun-
Try that would open tho eyes of tho Ameri-
cans who think of going there TO invest in
mines or anything else, but it would not be
the best thing for my future happiness il l
expect to dwell among them. The few
wealthy Americans who go there for pleas
ure and to meet the president and drink his
health receive n wrong impression of the
feeling i'll Mexico toward Americans in gen
c!al. It's all right to. raise the glass and ex-
claim, Long live the prcsidentr but I'll tell
You that there is no more freedom in Mex
ico' and no moro regard for the will of tho
majority, than there is in Russia. | had for
gotten myself, however, and will now speak
of the vanilla bean, its culture and its value
as a commercial commodity. This is the
c~"Stl'est bean on earth, and there are two
places i'll Mexico where it loulishcs-Pa-
pantla, i'll the state of Vera Cruz, and Mi
Sint!a: but the first place mentioned is the
mos important, and 1 will speak of it to
illustrate.
This town, of about 10000 inhabitants, is
in the land of tho Toconaco Indians, who
speak their W dialect, rarely cut their hair
OF shave their beard, take a bath only onco II
year and are as indolent and improvident rs
amy people on earth. The vanilla grows OH
a vining plant, which is found wild in the
forests round about Papantla, clinging to the
trees and bushes for support.
WHEN THE BEANS R1PEN.
Tho beans begin to ripen the latter part
OF November or the first of December, and
then the natives take their children and 20
out into the forests and gather beans until
they get all they can carry. AL kinds arc
put into their old sacks together, and arc
brought into tho town of Papantla to market.
Here there are a number of buyers, being
principally Spaniards or Americans, and the
competition in trade reminds one very much
of q street where second hand stores prevail,
and runners are out soliciting the trade of
the natives. The old women are generally i'll
the lead, half naked, perhaps, with bare
breasts, long, dishevelcd hair, and haggarl
faces besrimed with sweat and dirt. Then
como the children, equally pitiablc in appear
ance, and finally the old men bring up tho
rear Their long, stiff hair, matted and
dirty, sometimes standing out twelve or ff-
teen inches, while thei. boards, filthy and
long, lend q finish to the picture that is most
revolving.
The beans are purchased by the middle
men at tho rate of $40 or sl2 per 1000, taken
as they arc put up by the natives. One thou
sand good sized green vanilla beans will
weigh sixty pounds; when cured, about ten
pounds. Tho first fine morning planks are
arranged and covered with quilts, on which
the beans arc laid afAr being Invested of
their stems. The sweating process, as it is
called, then takes place, and has to be re-
peated seven times before all the water is out.
Then the beans are heated slightly and placed
on rows of shelves to dry and air, after which
the asserting process takes place, and they
are placed in packages containing fifty beans,
each variously graded. hree weeks would
be sufficient time for the ing if fine weather
could be had, but this is rarely the case, and
it sometimes takes from four to five months.
Last year the beans sold for S14 q hundred,
which was about a pound, but owing to a
heavy crop this year and tho growing COM
petition i'll the business, We have to sell or.
best beans at sl2 q pound, or hundred, and
the inferior at from 81 to $40. The principal
markets for vanilla beans are New York, st.
Louis and Chicago. They arc bought chiefly
by wholesale druggists and fine confectioners,
and are becoming an important article of
Mexican Last year, in the vicinity
OF Papantla alone, Coz OO,O 900 were exported
St. Louis Republican.