Title: Vanilla culture in Puerto Rico
Identifier: CAT31289489 (find matches)
Year: 1948 (1940s)
Authors: Childers, Norman Franklin, 1910-
Subjects: Vanilla; Orchids
Publisher: Washington, D. C. : U. S. Dept. of Agriculture
Contributing Library: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library
Digitizing Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library

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46 CIRCULAR NO. 2 8, FEDERAL EXPERIMENT STATION shown by figure 38. It attains full size within about 6 weeks, which readily explains how exhaustive is the fruiting process. From one to three flowers on a raceme open each day starting early in the morning and closing in the afternoon of the same day. There- fore, it is necessary and advisable to pollinate during the morning period starting as early as feasible. The vanillery should be inspected once a day during the peak of the Mossing season and on alternate days or less often at other times, depending upon the number of flowers opening and the need for additional beans to fill the quota of each vine. The flowers which should receive first choice in pollination in a LABELLUM (^MODIFIED PETAL
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Figure 33.—A, Parts of the vanilla flower. The anther, rostellum, and stigma are of chief interest in hand pollination. At B, t, the end of the column is shown with the rostellum normally down. In hand pollination this flap or rostellum must be mechanically lifted, as at B, c. in order that the male organ (anther) can be pressed against the female organ (stigma). A side view of the column is shown at B, a. raceme are those which hang downward. Beans developing from these lower flowers tend to form straight beans, whereas beans developing from flowers on the upper side of a raceme are often crooked and bring less money on the market. Also, crooked beans are difficult to bundle, and may give the bundles a straggly appearance. Women and children are well suited to pollination work. Working steadily, the average person can pollinate between 1,000 and 1,500 blossoms a day, or about 4 a minute, on the basis of a 5- to 7-hour day. Pollination may be continued until late in the afternoon, although the flowers begin to close in early afternoon. Experiments by McClelland (12) have shown that flowers will set fruit satisfactorily when pol-

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