The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-10-06

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in every particular in any city, but they
are not the rule. Everything in the nature
of ladies dress is imported direct from
Europe, and the stores of the large towns,
such as Guatemala, are excellent. There
are some which are distinctly Italian, others
French and German, and few American;
and l am happy to say that American cot
ton cloths are running everything of sim
liar nature out of the market. Up to
within 10 years ago the popular taste ran
to everything gaudy and snowy, and money
being plentiful the Jewish jewellers, who
overrun the country, made rich harvest
by little less than downright swindling and
misrepresentation of goods to confding,
ignorant people; but with the death of the
cochineal industry money became scarcer,
and buyers desired their moneys worth
and gradually acquired knowledge of the
value of dollar, so that now there is not
SO much extravaganza among the wealthy,
and thirty y-fve-cent brilliants are no longer
sold as niDe-carat diamonds.
Thirty-fve years ago the cochineal of
commerce sold on the spot for 81 and
$3.50 per pound. During the French in
vasion of Mexico it declined to S1.25; and
as the cost of production was practically
nothing, and as immense areas were devot-
ed to its cultivation, money was as pentl-
ful as water, and any man who had coch-
meal patch was sure of large income, so
great was the demand for the dye; but the
advent of the aniline substitute killed the
industry, which though still moderately
profitable, does not tempt the big ideas of
the Central American. The town of OAK
aca in Mexico, and about the third in size
of the republic, was built on the profits of
the little red bug. 1t was a magnificent
city, but had no other dependence, and
only few days ago building there which
had cost 100000 to erect was sold for
$4,000. Lands around Antigua and Anna
titan, near Guatemala City, that could not
have been bought for $1,000 per ''manza-
na" or two acres, can be had to-day for the
one-hundredth part of that price In those
days but few thought of coffee, but they
had to come to coffee raising to utilize their
lands, which has had a beneficial result
upon the people. They cannot secure
large crops without corresponding hard
work, and the money thus gained does not
burn their pockets as before. The cochi-
neal lives on the "nopal cactus, or prickly
pear variety of cactus, which when once
planted needs no care and thrives. When
the ''nopal' is three years old it is hardy
enough to serve its purpose, that of feeding
the bug. Many small bags holding about
an ounce or half an ounce of the "wild
cochineal' bugs, which can be secured any
where, are tied on to the higher leaves of
the plant After short time, in a week
or two, fine white powder is thrown off
from the bag. This powder is the young
of the bugs confined in the bag, and
though animal life, it is so minute as not
to be detected with the eye. In two or
three weeks all the leaves of the plant will
look as if covered with spider webs, which
is nothing but the young growing The
time for Seeding" or hanging the bags out
is at the end of the wet season, and the
young mature before the commencing of
the next rainy weather; i, e., all the work
is done in one dry season. As the young
grow larger many insects and worms prey
upon them, and women and children are
employed to keep the leaves free from these
enemies. When it is time to gather the
cochineal, men, women, and children, car
rying baskets and brushes go out into the
fields and brush the bugs from the leaves
into their baskets. Then the leaves are
cut and brushed off again to secure all that
escaped in the first gathering. The pro-
duct is then taken to the drying house,
where the insects are dried, with three
days of charcoal fire, and on mats, the lay
ers of cochineal being about l inch thick
and being often stirred to equalize the dry
ing The insect is torpid and soon dies.
After this the product is sorted for quality
and ''fanned' to remove any dust, and is a
silver gray in color, due to its having been
killed. The black cochineal, or "mother
cochineal," whick died natural death in
the bags, commands higher price than
that which was worked artifcially in the
drying rooms Some of the live bugs of
one years crop are saved alive, and are put
into bags in the house to secure the white
powder or seeding for the next year, and
leaves are hung under these bags, that no
powder may drop on the ground and be lost.
In former days this work produced mill
ions of dollars annually, but to-day, with
cochineal selling from Is to 20 cents per
pound, it is practically abandoned In al
titudes low enough some of the enterpris-
ing citizens are planting rubber trees on
former cochineal land and putting in here
aud there, in wet spots, fields of sugar
cane, but such work requires much capital,
and in many cases is done by Americans.
Paragraphs frequently appear in American
newspapers reporting interviews with Con-
suls from Central America on leaves of ab-
sence. These gentlemen are reported as
saying that man can come to the country
with $4,000 capital, go into coffee raising,
and leave independently wealthy in five
years. Nothing was further from the
that amount of capital could undoubtedly
90 into business on his own account and
reasonably expect an annual profit of %
per cent, but so far as making $50, 900 or
$50, 900 in FIVE years is concerned, think
he would have a better chance in Wall
street. Some individuals have come to
this country without a cent, and by work
ing as day laborers on coffee estates have
saved enough money to buy and plant
small patches of ground, to which they
have added from time to time, until they
have built up good 'incas,' but such sue
cess requires from Is to 20 years of the
hardest kind of work, accompanied by good
luck. Then, again, there are many who
came to the country without cent and
who have never increased their capital.
American boys coming to this country
would encounter no difficulty with the Ian
guage, and would fail to find so many op-
portunities as they would in the West of
their own country. In few years, when
English may be the common tongue of this
country and American enterprise may have
taken firmer footing, this land will afford
every advantage; but the young man who
comes to-day must not expect to stumble
on gold mine in his first afternoon walk;
if he have such expectations he will be
sadly disappointed.
The cities and towns of Central America
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