Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-02-12
THE COCHINEAL INDUSTRY.
A Little Woodlouse That Once Was
Important for Dyeing.


8 dried insect which furnishes the
most brilliant red color known, occu-
pied a very prominent position IN tne
worlds commerce. The market quo
tations Of this article were watched
with as much if not more interest than
those of coffee are today. Immense
sums of money we're invested, both III
the production of cOchineal and IN us
marketing and transportation While
Spain was the ruler of the western
world cochineal was one Of the prln-
cinal sources of revenue for that ma
+i07 and her government as well as
her merchants were guarding with
Jealous care the monopoly they en-
loved in this much sought after dye
stuff
The center of the state Of Oxaca.
with it's many high plateaus and val
Ievs. seems to be the native home OF
the tiny insect which produces the
cochineal of commerce, and probably
has been the chief seat of the cochi-
neal industry for many centuries, as
cochineal was extensively used for
generations before the discovery of
America by modern civilization. 1t
is we'll known that MOntezuma and
other Aztec rulers before him sent
merchants to Oaxaca to procure the
prized color with which to adorn
works of art and even of common use.
No doubt the civilization known to
have undoubtedly existed in the west
ern hemisphere long before the advent
of European conquerors made extern
sive use of the product of the Oaxaca
valleys.
1t is a matter of record that during
the last half-century over $9O,0OO,OO0
was paid out in Oaxaca to the cochi-
neal producers, which probably does
no. represent more than One-fifth OF
the price paid by the actual consum-
ers. The Spanish government alone
exacted tax of about S1.75 pound,
and the cost of transportation, which
must have been very great, and the
commissions amounted to enough
more to make cochineal bring SIS a
pound in the wholesale market of Eu-
rope. But since the middle of the past
century a dangerous competitor for
the Oaxaca insect has been discovered
in coal tar, from which science is
producing the brilliant cOlOrs, known
as aniline, at an extremely low cost.
IF it were not for the fact that there
are certain classes of goods which can
not be dyed except with the aid OF
cochineaI, the industry would have
IL l.
Queer formerly would refuse less than
81 a pound, the price went down as low
as Is cents. Quite recently, however,
the demand for cochineal has in
creased, and the price has gone up to
so and even so cents pound, at which
rate the cOchineal industry is a paying
one In consequence, the interest in
the insect has been revived in Oaxaca,
and many new plantations for its Gull
tivation have been laid out in the val
ley Of Oaxaca.
The cOchineal insect. which is the
female of species of wood louise,
feeds upon plant belonging to the
great cactus family commonly called
the "nOpaI" This plant grows from
leaf to leaf, the leaves being oblOng in
shape. rather round and heavy at the
upper end, with but few spines on the
edges If left alone the plant adds
new leaves from year to year, and will
reach height of from 10 to - feet. The
cultivatOrs of the plant use the new
leaves, after they have grown to about
four inches broad in the largest diam
To- Il
making fields for the cultivation of the
insect. The planting is done in shall
low trenches, about two or three
inches deep, dug about 21@ feet apart.
The sprouts are set at a distance of
about IS inches from each other, and
generally take root very rapidly after
having been set out, and grow new
leaves. Within a years time they are
ready to receive the insect.
AS a rule there are men who make
a business of supplying planters with
the seed or mother insects, which are
set out in October or after the rainy
season is over, as heavy rain would
wash the insects off the plants and
cause irreparable damage, because the
drowning or become so weakened by
the rain that they could not return to
the plant. The insects are planted on
the leaves in the following manner:
About 20 or 80 are placed in a small
tube. closed at the one end, about two
inches long, and half an inch in diam
eter, made of the fiber of the species
of the maguey plant The tube is
closed with moss, after having been
loaded, and fastened to leaf by run
ming a spine through it and bending it
onto the leaf From two to six Of
these tubes are fastened to each leaf,
according to the size of the latter, and
the entire plant is then covered with
mat. Within a few days after tiny
specks barely visible to the naked eye,
except that of the trained Indian, be-
gin to appear on the leaves, covering
them after a while with larger spots,
looking like mildew. If one of them