Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-07-18
GUATEMALA LETTER.
CULTIVATION OF TIE C0CHINEAL
OF COMMERCE.
Great Plantations Devoted TO the
Raising of These Queer
Little insects.

[REC0RD-UNIoN Correspondence.
QUEzALTENANGo, Guatemala,
June !, 1885.
This department, or county, as We should
call it, Of Quezaltenango, is one Of the most
important Of the twenty into which Guate-
mala is divided, though it contains less
than five hundred square miles, while there
are others which cover from four thousand
TO thirteen thousand square miles. The
capital of the department, which is also
called Quezaltenango, has a population Of
about q, GOO. Ii is q trim, well-built town,
with numerous churches. q many lowered
cathedral, casas of Plastered adobe; low
red Titled roofs, iron-barred windows plazas
shaded with cocoa palms and orange trees ;
pleasure-loying but unstable people, and all
the other features characteristic Of His
pano-American cities.
Cattle ranches, sheep ranches, even
chicken ranches, are common enough in
> the United States, but q bug ranch would
| be indeed, q curiosity. inthis queer cOun-
! try the raising Of hemjpterous insects Of
the bark-louse family, especially the cGce.>5
cuct. or Spanish c9chinHd, IS profitable if
Iltt - DlttiSeiltl anu ~ Ills biJ4
of it vast plantations are devoted TO the
| cultivation of the Indian fig, or nopal, Of
the genus cacti, or opI1ttja cochctind0 JcrG,
| for the nourishment Of the bark lice. Be
tween the attitudes Of 5000 and 5000 feet
| is the farOrite locality for cOchneal raising.
particularly in the vicinity Of Guatemala
| la Antigua, the ancient capital founded by
! Alyarado. and IL this department Of Que
zaltenangO.
HOW THEY ARE CULTIVATED.
The method of cultivating these insects
| is most curious. They require about the
same care that is ordinarily bestowed upon
! silkworms During the last days OF May,
! Immediately before the annual rains begin,
great branches of cacti, covered with the
| insects are cut of, and stored III q building
! erected for the purpose, TO protect them
| from the weather A. the close OF the wet
| season, or about the middle OF October, the
plantations are rest0clled from these sup
plies by suspending little nests, made Of
I lutte. maguev, or any other soft woody fiber,
upon the spines Of the growing nopal, each
nest containing q dozen female insects.
! Warmed by the trupic sun, they soon
| emerge from their semi-cOmat0Se condition
and begin to lay eggs with marvellous "a
pidity, each female producing more than
| a thousand young. The new crop imme-
! diatelv spreads over the plants, the females
At once swelling to surprising SIZE, and
| attaching themselves so closely to the nOpal
/ as 10 become almost part Of IL, so that
! they resemble vegetable eXcrescences rather
| than animated insects. In this condition
they are gathered for cochineal, the preg-
naEt females only being valuable for com
mercial purposes. The males are COM
! paratiyelY few in number, not more than
| one to $50 females, and are Of 10 use for
cOloring material The females are picked
Oft with a blunt knife, collected with bas-
kets, and
KILLEp BY DIPPING INTO BOILING WATER
or by baking them in ovens or on plates OF
iron. The first crop is gathered about the
| middle of December, and subsequently sey-
! eraI more Of as many successive generations
are obtained. These tiny scions OF the num-
erous family cocoid9 are in the form OF
/ rounded scales, the body covered with deep
! transverse wrinkles, bristiy Oh the poste-
riOT part, with abdomen of dark null
! berry color and short black legs The male
/ has Two erect wings, the female none. An
expert lab0rer can pick only about two
ounces of cOchineal in day. These lose
at least twO-tbirls Of their weight in the
! process OF drying. As il requires not less
than seventy thousand insects to weigh a
| pound, and the average retail price Of The
| commodity is only seventy cents pound
| in the United States i viii be seen thatthc
| cochincal business is by no means & sine
cure for the operative.
/ Occasionally bug distempeT breaks out
and devastates entire estates, as in Guate-
mala few years ago, when the hdcienddd0s
were obliged to clear out the old stock root
and branch and begin anew. The worms
are also fed upon by birds, mice and the