The north shores of the Province of Pinar del Rio, swept by the northeast trade winds throughout the entire year, furnish in many places conditions most favorable to the culture of cacao and coffee. The same is true of southeastern Santa Clara, of the northern slopes of the Sierra de Cubitas and of the coasts of Oriente from the Bay of Nipe on the north, clear around to Cabo Cruz on the southwest. Both in nature and in its domestic use, cacao and the vanilla bean have always been more or less closely associated. Both are denizens of the deep forest, and are indigenous to the two Americas from Mexico to Peru. The Aztecs of Anhuac, the Mayas of Central America, and the subjects of the Incas, further south, added the delicate flavor of the vanilla to their chocolate, made from the beans of the caca-huatl, from which the name of cacao was taken. This association of vanilla with chocolate and other confectioneries has continued into modern times. The so-called vanilla bean is not, as the name would indicate, of the legume family, but is an orchid, climbing the trunks of trees that grow on the rich soils of tropical forests. The vine may be germinated from seed planted in leaf mold at the base of the tree, but where cultivated it is propagated from cuttings and must have the shade of trees in order to thrive, climbing the trunks to a height of 20 to 30 feet, by means of fibrous roots that come from nodes along its length. The leaves are bright green, long and fleshy; the flowers are white and usually fragrant, having eccentric forms peculiar to the orchid family. The pods, from six to nine inches in length, are cylindrical and some three-eighths of an inch in thickness. The vine begins to bear in the third year from planting and will continue to do so for thirty to forty years with but little care or culture. The pods are gathered before they are fully ripe, dried in the shade and “sweated” or fermented in order to develop and fix the delightful aroma for which they are famous. It is during this period of fermentation that the bean requires careful watching and expert knowledge in order that the process of sweating may be perfect, since upon this chemical change in the texture of the beans the value of the product really depends. After fermentation the pods are carefully dried, tied in small bundles and made ready for market or export. They will keep indefinitely and the high prices secured for very small bulk renders them an attractive crop to handle. The vanilla of commerce is not only used to flavor chocolate, sweetmeats and liquors, but also enters into the composition of many perfumes, owing to an aromatic alkaloid that exudes from and crystallizes on the outer coating of the best quality beans. These under normal conditions are worth from $12 to $16 per pound.