[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Plan of curing house. (Dotted lines indicate where drying shelves are fixed.)] When finished the pods are well wiped with bits of soft flannel and then kept in boxes with close-fitting lids. It is better to sort them roughly into lengths as each day’s lot is put away and tie up the various sizes in bundles of about 200 each if the numbers allow of it, for they have to be examined once or twice a week in order to remove the molded ones, and this is much more quickly done with bundles than when they are loose. Moreover, it makes the ultimate accurate measuring easier. Either at this time or later the different qualities are more exactly separated, none but faultless pods, without scar or defect in curing, being allowed in the first quality. The rest rank as seconds, etc. The split pods and the pods that have been cut on account of mold are also kept distinct. It is well to keep a crop at least three or four months before marketing. By that time nearly all shaky pods that are liable to mold will have shown themselves. All are then measured and tied up in neat bundles of 50 pods each of even length, the pods varying in length not more than one-eighth of an inch. The general sightliness of a marketed crop has much influence on the price it will bring, and whatever whims buyers get into their heads the producer must conform to or suffer in pocket. Bundle tying is something of an art, and a deft hand at it is valuable. Sixteen or thereabouts of the shapeliest pods in each 50 are selected for the outside; the rest are tied up as a core, being kept in position with a few turns of the fiber tying cord, while the chosen 16 are carefully placed round them. The bundle is tied in either three places, near each end and in the middle, or in two places, an inch or more from the ends, according to the length of bundle. The core-holding string is pulled out before the final tie is fixed. Two-tie packets are boxed as they are. With those of three ties buyers prefer that the end cords be removed before packing, to enable them to examine the bundles inside and see if the contents are of uniform quality. If kept tied some time before being packed the bundles set, as it were, and retain their neat shape. The tin boxes used here for packing vanilla in measure 12¹⁄₂ by 8¹⁄₂ inches in width, are 4¹⁄₂ inches deep, and hold about 12 pounds. Each box has a label pasted on it which bears the grower’s trade-mark, the length and number of packets, their quality, and net weight, and a similar label is put inside. As some chemical action is set up when vanilla rests in contact with tin or iron, thin vegetable parchment paper is placed in the boxes to keep the two apart. The lids are then sealed close with pasted paper and the tins packed in wooden cases, 6 in each, and thus dispatched to market. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND NOTES. A fair crop should average about 100 cured pods to the pound.