The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-07-17

AACoAO uCubAAOo1 NoAhN III nv ENAAahAC ~
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.
New-mown hay not being always available, and
mewhat 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"
was 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 fondly 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
hay" The source of the essence is
really a bean. Not the prosaic, everyday. COM
monplace, edible bean of our market gardens.
but a bean that grows in that section of the
world where once Ell Dorado, the "Gilded One"
was thought to rule in glittering splendor: that
tabled land in the f~ruitless quest of which so
many daring, gold-loving Adventures spent
money, time, and even lives most lavishly. II ia
known as the Tonqua, Tonka, or Tonuuin bean
said to be so called because It was erroneouslv
thought to have been first introduced into Fin.
rope from the Chinese province of Tonouin How.
ever 1t got its 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 odoro+,
tree belonging to the leguminosae or pulse fami,,
The genus dipterix comprises about eight species
all large trees, to be found in the forests OF Rrs'
I'll. the Guianas, Venezuela, Colombia, and tron
lcal south America generally, having no renre.
cont tfynr IN H. IAI
from 60 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 a large kidney bean. Il
has a wrinkled skin of a 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
couInarln, a concrete crystallizable, volatile.
neutral substance, which is soluble in alcohol
and ether and somewhat so in boiling water,
from which it crystallizes on cooling. The beans
are often frosted with crystals of this substance,
which show distinctly on their black surface and
give them the appearance OF being sugar coated.
AS stated, the tree is indigenous to tropical
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 a 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 IL is this soil that seems 10 he 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 dificu and arduous. The wood of the
tree is remarkably close-grained, very hard and
heavy, and of a reddish color. In some respects
it resembles lignum-vitae and is frequently mis-
taken for it. 1t is highly priced as a cabinet
wood. While cultivation of the tree has been at
tempted in Trinidad and other of the West Indies
to a 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 1t is impossible to forecast
the yield of any particular year. AS a rule there
IS perhaps not more than one good crop in every
three years, production in the intervals being
so scant that II 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 tonqua-bean industry of
Venezuela, and it is there that the sarrapieros
market their product.
One factor which has much to do with curtail-
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-
geously colored plumage and the many other
varieties of the parrot family to be found in