MANUFACTURE OF COCHINEAL BY THE COCCUS CACTI, OR COCHINEAL INSECT.
The cochineal insect is extremely valuable in commerce, as yielding a
brilliant red dye, and we may with propriety class it among insect
manufactures, because, although its destruction is necessary to obtain
the colouring matter, (the actual body of the insect forming the dye,)
yet this beautiful colour is elaborated from the food on which it feeds,
as honey and wax are elaborated by the bee, or silk by the silkworm. We
do not find, it is true, any especial care or effort on the part of the
insect in the production of the cochineal, and in this respect it
differs from the examples already given; but the rich colour which
pervades the body of the insect appears to result simply from the juices
of the particular species of cactus on which it feeds. Yet being to us
the only means of obtaining the brilliant dye in question, the cochineal
insects must be reckoned highly useful, though involuntary,
manufacturers.
Cochineal insects are very small, delicate creatures, remarkable for the
great difference in the form of the male and female. The former has a
slender body, long antennæ, and two large wings; the latter an oval
body, without wings, and short antennæ. The mouth in both insects
consists of a small conical bill and sucker, adapted for feeding on the
juices of vegetables. At first, all the young brood, whether male or
female, resemble tiny red tortoises, and are busily engaged in feeding
on the stems and leaves of plants, which they pierce with their sharp
beaks so as to do much injury. During this active period of their lives
the insects continue to increase in size, but the period soon arrives
when they undergo a transformation. All the insects fix themselves
firmly to plants or stems, and the male soon appears in his new dress as
a fly, while the female merely changes her skin, and remains fixed to
the bark, which she gradually becomes so nearly like, that it is
difficult to distinguish her. She now lays her eggs, which are very
numerous, and which she accumulates beneath her body; but, at the same
time, she gradually dwindles in size until her body becomes a mere
pellicle or thin membrane enclosing the brood. The mother then dies, but
her dried body remains as a sort of shell or cocoon for the protection
of her young. When these are hatched, they soon make their way from
beneath the scaly covering, and commence feeding vigorously on the
juices of the plant.
To the persevering exertions of a French gentleman, M. Thierry de
Menonville, it was owing that the culture of the cochineal became known
in the West India islands. This gentleman left Port au Prince, in St.
Domingo, in January 1777, with the express object of procuring some
living cochineal insects of the finest sort from Mexico, and bringing
them for propagation in the French West India islands; an enterprise for
the expense of which the French government had allotted the sum of four
thousand livres. Owing to the jealousy of the Spanish government, there
was great difficulty in penetrating as far as the cochineal districts,
and M. Thierry pursued a plan to effect his object which cannot be
considered justifiable, since it involved a departure from truth. At
first he feigned ill health, and obtained permission to use the baths of
the river Magdalena; but, instead of going thither, he proceeded as fast
as possible in the direction of the desired district, where he was
successful in getting some plants laden with cochineal, as a pretended
remedy for gout. From his account of the expedition we gather the
following particulars.
After numerous fatigues and dangers he at length saw himself near the
end of his journey, and approached Guaxaca. At a village, within a short
distance of that place, he saw, for the first time in his life, and with
the utmost pleasure, the fine cochineal feeding on the nopal, or cactus,
which it frequents. He saw a garden full of nopals, and not doubting but
that they were laden with cochineal insects, he sprang from his horse,
and, under pretence of adjusting his stirrups, entered into conversation
with the Indian proprietor of the garden. He asked him with apparent
indifference what was the use of those plants, and was answered, that
they were for the cultivation of _grana_. Feigning surprise, de
Menonville asked to be permitted to see this grana, and he was really
astonished when the insect was brought to him, for he had supposed it
red, and it was in fact covered with a white powder. “My doubts,” he
says, “were tormenting, but I suddenly thought of the expedient of
crushing one upon white paper, when what did I see?—the true purple of
kings!” Full of delight and anticipation, the traveller now set forward
towards the spot where he might hope to make himself acquainted with the
culture of the precious insect, and purchase a store for transportation.
Nothing could be more beautiful than the situation of Guaxaca, capital
of the province of that name. Standing in the midst of fertile and
extensive plains, at the foot of a majestic mountain range, and watered
by a fine and noble river, this city is richly supplied with corn and
fruits of all kinds, at the same time that its environs supply a most
favourable site for the culture of the cochineal. The air, continually
refreshed by easterly breezes in the morning, and westerly in the
evening, is pure and delicious, like that of a May morning. Indeed, our
traveller asserts, that for magnificence of site, beauty of decoration,
excellence of soil, fine temperature, and abundance of European and
American fruits succeeding each other without intermission, nothing is
wanting to Guaxaca to make it an enchanting spot, but an active and
industrious people, to avail themselves of its natural advantages.
At Guaxaca de Menonville acted with caution, and did not betray any
undue anxiety respecting the cochineals. Yet he provided himself with
chests large enough for their conveyance together with the plants on
which they fed. Under pretence of buying flowers, he went into a garden
where there was a beautiful nopalerie, and while they were making up the
bouquet he had ordered, he took the opportunity of observing the
arrangement of the nopals. They were planted four feet apart in lines,
the lines being six feet asunder. The nopalerie belonged to a negro, and
it was here that a purchase might in all probability be effected. On
another occasion, therefore, de Menonville took two Indian servants,
each bearing a large hamper, and repaired very early in the morning to
the garden. He left his servants at the entrance, and entered alone. The
negro proprietor had scarcely risen, but he came forward in a frank and
agreeable manner. De Menonville then told him, that being a physician,
he was anxious to make an ointment of his own invention for the cure of
gout, and for this purpose he wished to purchase some branches of nopals
laden with cochineal, for which he was willing to pay whatever the owner
should demand, provided he might make his own selection of the branches
suitable to his purpose. The Indian willingly complied, and accordingly
the hampers were brought in, and eight fine branches, each two feet high
and so loaded with cochineals as to be quite white, were speedily cut,
packed, and covered with cloths. He then asked him how much he had to
pay; the negro answered that he could not possibly sell them for less
than two _reals_. Our traveller fully believed him, and would have
purchased them, if necessary, at a much larger sum. That the negro might
not think him dissatisfied with the bargain, he gave him a piaster
(value eight reals), telling him he had no change, and therefore he
should give him the rest to drink his health. The good old negro rubbed
his eyes, thinking he was still dreaming, and then loaded de Menonville
with thanks, while the latter brought in his two Indians, gave them the
hampers to carry, and then set off as fast as possible. “My heart,” he
says, “beat quickly, for it seemed to me that I had carried off the
golden fleece, but might yet be pursued by the furious dragon who kept
guard over it. All along the road I kept saying, ‘At last they are in my
power;’ and I could willingly have sung for joy if I had not been afraid
of being heard. I arrived at my inn quite out of breath, without having
met a single person in the streets; it was about sunrise; no one was
awake in the house, and I crept quietly to my room, where I arranged my
nopals, with inexpressible delight, in the caskets I had purchased for
that purpose.”
[Illustration:
COCHINEAL CACTUS.
]
After innumerable difficulties and dangers this traveller reached St.
Domingo in safety, but with only a small part of his insects living.
These, however, he was successful in rearing and multiplying until a
flourishing nopalerie was established. He found, by experience, that
five or six species of _cactus opuntia_ will nourish these insects, but
that some are far more valuable than others. He also proved that the
colours of the flowers and fruit of the plants, whether red, violet,
yellow, or white, did not in any way affect the colour of the cochineal,
nor indicate the greater or less aptitude of the plant to nourish the
insect. The thorny species were less convenient on account of the pain
and annoyance to the hands of those who managed the nursery; but in some
of these the younger branches were nearly free from prickles.
The terms _nopalerie_ for the nursery, and _nopal_ for the plant, are
preserved among the French cultivators of cochineal, in remembrance of
the Mexican origin of such nurseries. The enclosure should be secured by
walls or a quick hedge; not from the fear that any animal will prey upon
the plants, since no large quadruped is known to have a taste for them;
but simply to keep out such as might by accident or fear be driven
through the grounds, and trample on and destroy the crop.
An acre, or an acre and a half of land, when planted with nopals, is
sufficient to keep one Indian well employed during six months of the
year. The plants should be so situated as to receive the full influence
of the morning sun, which is of great consequence to the welfare of the
cochineal. Every part of the ground should be as neat as a well-kept
garden, and every injurious insect watched for and destroyed. The spider
alone is permitted to weave her nets in peace, and for this reason: she
is the great enemy of many insects which injuriously affect the
cochineals, while she herself does not touch one of them. The nopal
requires a good soil, where the drainage is excellent. Shelter from the
wind, and exposure to the sun, are the two great requisites, and with
this there must be a tolerably settled climate, otherwise the harvest
will be uncertain.
When in a favourable situation, the nopal requires less care and
cultivation than almost any other plant: it would even appear that the
less it is meddled with the better it succeeds. As soon as a nursery
ground is laid out, cleaned, and drained, planting commences, the season
being the dry period just before the spring rains. Alleys or paths are
marked out, forming squares: parallel lines are drawn across these
squares north and south. Here the nopals are planted at two feet
distance from each other, being clean cuttings from the old plant, and
not torn or broken from it. The Indians of Guaxaca plant two or three
cuttings in each hole, lest any accident should prevent one from
striking. Eighteen months afterwards the plants will be in a state to
nourish the cochineal.
The sowing of cochineal, as it is called, is performed at day-break, the
insects being conveyed from the old plants and attached to the new. For
this purpose they are placed in little nests made by the natives, and
attached with thorns to the leaves of the nopal. Here they quickly
multiply to an astonishing extent. A nopalerie is in perfection six
years, after which the insects are taken away and the plants cut down.
The cochineal harvest takes place every year as soon as the young
insects begin to run about. Assembling his friends, old and young, the
owner of the cochineal ground enters it at break of day with a crowd of
men, women, and children, provided with knives six inches long and two
wide, and also with dishes and with baskets. The blade of the knife is
rounded at the top, so as to injure neither the insect nor the plant;
this is passed gently between the skin of the nopal and the clusters of
cochineals with which it is covered, causing the latter to fall into the
dish or basket, which the left hand holds ready to receive them. A child
of ten years old may thus gather ten pounds of insects in a day, which
being killed and dried will yield about three pounds and a half of
cochineal. The best method of killing the insects is by pouring boiling
water on them, and allowing it to remain one, two, or three minutes. The
water is preserved, as it necessarily has some of the colouring matter
of the insects; the latter are spread out to dry in the sun and wind,
being turned occasionally by hand. Ten persons, it is said, can thus
prepare two hundred pounds of cochineal in two days. Such is the history
given by de Menonville himself, in his volumes entitled ‘_Voyage à
Guaxaca_.’ Baron Humboldt, describing the management of cochineals in
this and in other parts of South America, gives some additional
particulars. He ascertained that in a colder climate, the colour of the
cochineal is equally fine, but the harvests are more uncertain. Plains
or valleys are generally more favourable to the rapid increase of the
cochineals than elevated ground, but such places also abound in insect
enemies, and in lizards, rats, and birds, which devour the crop. Great
care is required in clearing all the joints of the nopals: for this
purpose Indian women use a squirrel’s or a stag’s tail, and will sit for
hours crouched near a single plant. Notwithstanding the high price of
cochineal, it is very doubtful whether the trade would answer in any
country where labour is more valuable. In some parts of Guaxaca (called
by Humboldt Oaxaca), they obtain three harvests of cochineal in the
year, the first being the least lucrative, because the bodies of the
insects yield very little colouring matter when they die naturally, and
this is the case at the first harvest, when they have just brought forth
their young. Many of the negro proprietors of nopaleries, especially
those in the neighbourhood of Oaxaca, have a very ancient and singular
custom of making their cochineals emigrate during the rainy season. As
the Spaniard causes his flocks of merinos to emigrate on the approach of
cold, so do these negroes send away their crop during a season which
might prove fatal to them. The insects are packed in hampers, and
carried as quickly as possible, on the backs of negroes, to a place nine
leagues distant from the town, not so heavily visited with rain. Here
they distribute them on the nopals, and keep them there till the month
of October, when they return with their freight, and replace it in the
nopaleries of Oaxaca.
The plantations of cochineal cultivated by M. Thierry, at St. Domingo,
were so successful that in 1789 there were more than four thousand
plants in a single nopalerie, and the produce was ascertained by
chemists to be quite equal to that of Mexico; but at the time of the
French Revolution, the political troubles of St. Domingo caused the
destruction of the plantations. Cochineal has been cultivated with some
success in several of the British West India islands. Thus the Rev. L.
Guilding, writing a few years ago to Dr. Hooker, says, “I possess a
considerable nursery of this cactus, inhabited by thousands of the true
_Coccus cacti_, and I do not despair of being able to send to the
Society of Arts a large quantity of dried insects before the termination
of the present year.”
So important was the acquisition of this insect to the East India
Company, that they offered a reward of six thousand pounds to any one
who should introduce it into India, where hitherto the Company had only
succeeded in procuring from Brazil the wild kind producing the
_sylvestre_ cochineal, which is of inferior value. The true cochineal
insect, and the cactus on which it feeds, are said to have been of late
years successfully introduced into Spain and the French colony of
Algiers, and now exist in the stores of the _Jardin des Plantes_ at
Paris, and also in those of King Leopold at Claremont.
Stephens, in his Travels in Central America, does not omit to notice the
cultivation of this insect, which was carried on extensively in the
neighbourhood of the ruined city of La Antigua Guatimala. “Emerging from
the city,” he says, “we entered the open plain, shut in by mountains,
and cultivated to their base with cochineal. At about a mile’s distance
we turned into the hacienda of Señor Vidaury. In the yard were four oxen
grinding sugar-cane, and behind was his nopal or cochineal plantation,
one of the largest in the Antigua. The plant is a species of cactus, set
out in rows like Indian corn, and, at the time I speak of, it was about
four feet high. On every leaf was pinned with a thorn a piece of cane,
in the hollow of which were thirty or forty insects. These insects
cannot move, but breed, and the young crawl out and fasten upon the
leaf. When they have once fixed, they never move; a light film gathers
over them, and as they feed, the leaves become mildewed and white. At
the end of the dry season some of the leaves are cut off and hung up in
a storehouse for seed, the insects are brushed off from the rest and
dried, and are then sent to minister to the luxuries and elegancies of
civilized life, and enliven with their bright colours the _salons_ of
London, Paris, and St. Louis in Missouri. The crop is valuable, but
uncertain, as an early rain may destroy it, and sometimes all the
workmen are taken away for soldiers at the moment when they are most
needed for its culture. The situation was ravishingly beautiful, at the
base and under the shade of the Volcano de Agua, and the view was
bounded on all sides by mountains of perpetual green; the morning air
was soft and balmy, but pure and refreshing. With good government and
good laws, and one’s friends around, I never saw a more beautiful spot
on which man could desire to pass his allotted time on earth.”
[Illustration:
1. BRANCH COVERED WITH LAC. 2. SMALL TWIG LADEN WITH LAC. 3. PORTION
OF LAC (_magnified_). 4, 5, 6. LAC INSECT IN ITS SEVERAL FORMS.
]