The Secretary of Agriculture proposes to secure such perfectly healthy plants for distribution to planters wishing to experiment with vanilla culture, and it is hoped that meanwhile, in the absence of any definite legislation on the subject, public opinion will prevent any promiscuous importation of vanilla cuttings. As soon as the plants begin to yield pods the services of an expert should be secured to superintend the curing, for which specially constructed apparatus is required, and to report on the quality of the product. There is every prospect for the successful establishment of vanilla culture in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, provided suitable soils and climates be found, and provided the disease be excluded. Certainly an industry which yielded to the small island of Tahiti in 1897 $172,295, to the Seychelles $246,600 in 1897, and to Réunion $560,563 in 1892 is worthy the serious attention of prospective cultivators. The desirability of publishing a practical paper on the subject at this time is emphasized by the conviction that both Hawaii and Puerto Rico offer suitable fields for the introduction of this industry. VANILLA CULTURE AS PRACTICED IN THE SEYCHELLES ISLANDS. By S. J. GALBRAITH. GENERAL CONDITIONS. Vanilla cuttings are said to have been first introduced into the Seychelles Islands in 1866, probably from Bourbon (La Réunion), where the plant was grown extensively after sugar began to fail, about 1850. Plantations were gradually established and extended by the multiplication of these original plants and from others subsequently imported, and for many years now the colony’s prosperity has largely depended on vanilla. If kept free from disease it is a plant of extraordinary vitality; and here, where moisture and heat, its main requirements, are both ample, the sort of soil it is grown in seems to be of no great importance, provided that, if it be very poor, the roots are kept well supplied with manure. It is cultivated in the Seychelles from near sea level to 1,800 feet altitude, and does well (except for disease) at all altitudes between these extremes.