| Year. | Imports. | Home consumption. |
| cwts. | cwts. | |
| 1848 | 20,773 | 4,230 |
| 1849 | 24,994 | 3,419 |
| 1850 | 20,448 | 3,467 |
| 1851 | 14,840 | 3,935 |
| 1852 | 22,708 | 3,872 |
The following is a statement of the imports from the West Indies, and the consumption of the United Kingdom, in pounds:—
| Year. | Imports. | Entries for home consumption. |
| lbs. | lbs. | |
| 1831 | 1,801,355 | 305,739 |
| 1832 | 1,366,183 | 296,197 |
| 1833 | 4,770,255 | 330,890 |
| 1834 | 1,389,402 | 320,719 |
| 1835 | 2,536,353 | 343,942 |
| 1836 | 3,230,978 | 400,941 |
| 1837 | 2,026,128 | 383,401 |
| 1838 | 892,974 | 383,997 |
| 1839 | 1,071,511 | 309,078 |
| 1840 | 999,068 | 338,969 |
| 1841 | 797,757 | 297,201 |
| 1842 | 1,643,318 | 450,683 |
| 1843 | 2,028,658 | 378,096 |
The imports have been, in—
| bags. | |
| 1843 | 18,649 |
| 1844 | 2,408 |
| 1845 | 21,092 |
| 1847 | 9,649 |
| 1848 | 18,196 |
| 1849 | 14,108 |
Pimento is worth in the London market 6d. to 7d. per lb. The duty is 5s. per cwt.
VANILLA.
The fleshy, pod-like, odoriferous fruit of different species of Epidendrum constitute the substance called vanilla, which is used in confectionery for giving a delicious perfume to chocolate, liqueurs, &c. As an aromatic it is much sought after by confectioners, for flavoring ices and creams; and also by perfumers, liqueurists, and distillers. The best comes from the forests round the village of Zurtila, in the intendancy of Oaxaca, on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera of Anahuac, between the parallels of 19 deg. and 20 deg. N. All the vanilla which is used in Europe is imported from Mexico, Venezuela, and Vera Cruz.
It is a native of tropical America, and grows wild in Brazil, Peru, the banks of the Orinoco, and all places where heat, shade, and moisture prevail. There are many species indigenous to the Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominica, Martinique and St. Vincent, which would produce considerable gain to the inhabitants if they would give themselves the trouble of cultivating or collecting its fruit.
This parasitical plant has a trailing stem, not unlike the common ivy, but not so woody, by which it attaches itself to the trunks of trees, and sucks the moisture which their bark derives from the lichens and other cryptogamia, but without drawing nourishment from the tree itself, like the misletoe and loranthus. The Indians in Mexico propagate it by planting cuttings at the foot of trees selected for that purpose. It rises to the height of 18 or 20 feet; the flowers are of a greenish yellow, mixed with white. The plant is subcylindrical about eight or ten inches long, of a yellow color when gathered, but dark brown or black when imported into Europe. It is one-celled siliquose, and pulpy within, wrinkled on the outside, and full of a vast number of seeds like grains of sand, having when properly prepared, a peculiar and delicious fragrance. It should be gathered before it is fully ripe.