Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-07-16

NAENJ have become, and the fragrance
of the fields gratifes the olfac-
tory nerves Of prince and pauper,
of the scullery maid and the pam
pered social butterfly, whose more or less remote
ancestors doubtless breathed in the perfume as
it rose from the dew-covered, tender grass they
moved with shining blade and gathered with
their own strong arms. The attraction OF the
perfume seems to have fingered even through
many generations.
Newmown hay not being always available, and
somewhat too bulky for aesthetic use even when
it is the art of the perfumer has been called
upon to crafty the sense of smell which longed
for this particular aroma; SO new-mown hay"
added to the varied perfumes Of Araby'
used as toilet accessories in liquid form, and now
"milady" may inhale the delicious odor from her
cut glass scent bottle Mayhap she pictures to
herself the sturdy youth with big, bare arms
swinging his cleaning scythe and gathering the
sweet young grass which she fondy thinks is
the source Of the delicious essence she now In
hales. But perfumes like many other things,
are not always what they seem. Grass, freshly
cut or otherwise, has had nothing to do with the
production OF the sweet-scented liquid labeled
new-mown hay" The source of the essence is
really bean. Not the prosaic, everyday COM
monplace. edible bean of market gardens,
but bean that grows in that section Of the
world where once Ell Dorado, the "Gilded One"
was thought to rule in glitteTIng splendor; that
tabled land in the fruitless quest of which so
many daring, gold-loving adventurers spent
money, time, and even lives most lavishly. It is
known as the Tonqua, Tonka, Tonquin bean,
said to be called because it was enormously
thought to have been first introduced into Eu-
rope from the Chinese province of Tonquin How
ever 1t got it's name, the real source Of the bean
is to be found In the tropical countries of South
America, chiefly In the valleys Of the Orinoco
Caura, and Cuchivero rivers in Venezuela and in
certain sections of Colombia.
The bean Is the seed of Dipterix odorata
tree belonging to the leguminosae or pulse family
The genus dipterix comprises about eight species
all large trees, to be found in the forests of Bra
zil; the Guianas, Venezuela, Colombia and trop-
zeal South America generally, having no repre
sentatives in northern localities The tree grows
from so to 80 feet high, with a trunk sometimes
three feet in diameter. The iridescent pods are
about two inches long, almond shaped, and very
thick; the single seed is over an inch long and
shaped somewhat like large kidney bean: 1t
has wrinkled skin of shiny black color when
ready for the market. The odor which is re-
markedly strong, resembles that of sweet clover
or new-mown hay, and is due to the presence of
coumarin, a concrete crystallizable, volatile
neutral substance, which Is soluble In alcohol
and ether and somewhat in boiling water,
from which 1t crystallizes cooling The beans
are often frosted with crystals of this substance
which show distinctly their black surface and
give them the appearance of being sugar coated.
, Indigenous
South America but the Section which produces
the largest quantities and perhaps the best va
riety of the beans is the region between the
Caura and Cuchivero rivers. The watershed be-
tween these two streams consists of several
mountain ranges of granite formation, the most
considerable of which is the Serrania de Mato.
On the right bank of the Caura river mountains
of similar formation, of which Turagua is the
highest. also exist The average altitude of these
ranges is between 5000 and 1000 feet although
there are peaks as high as 5000 feet Besides
the mountain ranges many isolated hills and
large open masses of granite, only little higher
than the surrounding country, are scattered
through the forest. The land in the vicinity of
these mountains consists largely of granite grit
and it is this soil that seems to be the most Ia
vorable for the growth of the tonQua-bean tree.
The trees are not usually found In groves, but
grow singly, though small clumps are occasional
ly found. The gathering Of the nuts Is thus all
the more difficult and arduous. The wood or the
tree is remarkably closegrained, very hard and
heavy, and of reddish color In some respects
it resembles lgnum-vitae and is frequently mis-
taken for It. 1t Is highly priced as cabinet
wood While cultivation of the tree has been at
tempted in Trinidad and other Of the West Indies
to limited extent, the fact that it takes from
ten to twelve years to come into bearing has dis
couraged any systematic efforts along this line,
and the Wild product is still depended upon to
supply the market Again the crops seem to
be very irregular and it Is impossible to forecast
the yield of any particular year: As rule there
is perhaps not more than one good crop in every
three years, production in the intervals being
so scant that 1t hardly pays to collect the beans
In Venezuela the tree is known as sarrapia, and
the men engaged in the collection Of the seeds
or beans are called sarrapieros. Ciudad Bolivar
is the center of the tonquabean industry OF
Venezuela. and 1t is there that the sarrapieros
market their product.
One factor which has much to do with curtal
ing the tonQua-bean crop is the presence of birds
in the tropical forests where the trees grow
Especially are the large macaws with their gor
geouslv colored nlumage and the many nthar