COCHINEAL, the name of a valuable scarlet dye obtained from an insect, the Coccus Cacti of naturalists, which is found on the Cactus o/iuntia, or prickly pear tree, called .12pa/, or Xopallica, by the Indians. As the natural history of the insect itself will be given under the article ENTOMOLOGY, and the method of using the dye which is obtained from it under the article Dv rt NG, we shall confine ourselves at present to such economical details as do not belong to either of these articles.
The Cactus uptintia, or Xopal, on which the insects are reared, is generally planted by the Indians near their habitations, in an argillaceous earth mixed with gravel and stones. In holes abort half a yard deep, and about two yards distant from each other, one or two leaves of the nopal arc placed in a flat position, and then covered with earth. These leaves grow up into a single stem, which divides into branches that successit ely produce fresh karts. The stem and the branches are full of knots, from N% hich the leaves grow. The plant is usually about three yards in height. The decayed branches are carefully removed, and the plants arc kept free of all kinds of weeds. A collection of these trees forms a The female cochineal insects arc placed, about the I 3 t h of October, in a number of small nuts, among the leaves of the nova], and they immediately wander over the plant in quest of the particular branches to which they attach themselves, and during the time of breeding they arc preserved with the utmost care from violent winds, frosts, &r.c. and from the depredations of particular birds and worms. After attaining their full growth, they are put into earthen pots, and when they have been confined for some time, they are killed and put into bags.
The following curious details respecting cochineal arc abridged from the writings of Humboldt, which contain not only the most recent, but the most correct account of this singular insect that has yet been published.
The rearing of the cochineal, (Grano Nochiztli,) is of great antiquity in New Spain ; and it is probable that it goes beyond the incursions of the Toltec tribes. In the time of the dynasty of Aztec kings, the cochineal was more general than at present. There were nopalerics not only in Mixtecapan (la Misteca), and in the province of Huaxyacac (Oaxaca), but also in the intendancy of Puebla, in the environs of Cholula and Huejotzingo. The vexations to which the natives were exposed in the beginning of the conquest, and the low price at which the encomenderos forced the cultivators to sell the cochi neal, occasioned this branch of Indian industry to be every where neglected, excepting in the intendancy of Oaxaca.
It is scarcely 40 years since the peninsula of Yucatan still possessed considerable nopaleries In a single night, all the- nopals, on which the cochineal lives, were cut down. The Indians pretend that the government took this violent resolution to raise the value of a com modity, of which they wished to secure the exclusive property to the inhabitants of Misteca. On the other hand, the whites maintain that the natives, irritated and discontented with the price fixed by the merchants on the cochineal, came to a general understanding, to destroy at once, both the insect and the nopals.
The quantity of cochineal which the intendancy of Oaxaca furnishes to Europe, may be estimated in com mon years, including the three sorts, grana, granilla, and/le/vas de grana, at 4000 zurrones, or 32,000 arrobas, which, calculating the arroba at 75 double piastres, amounts to 2,400,000 piastres. The cochineal exported from Vera Cruz, was But since the produce of one harvest is often augment ed by a portion of the produce of the preceding year, the progress of cultivation cannot be determined from the quantity exported. The nopaleries in general in crease very slowly in Misteca. In the intendancy of Guadalaxara, scarcely 800 arrobas of cochineal are pro duccd annually. Raynal estimates the whole export.• tion of New Spain at 4000 quintals, an estimate too low by one half. The East Indies have only begun to pour their cochineal into commerce ; but the quantity is very inconsiderable. Captain Nelson carried off the insect from Rio Janeiro* in 1793, and nopalerics have been established in the environs of Calcutta, Chittagong, and Madras. Much difficulty was experienced in procuring the species of cactus proper for the nourishment of the insect. We do not know if this Brasilian cochineal trans ported to Asia, be the mealy species of Oaxaca, or if i' be the cotton cochineal (grana silvestre) Humboldt had occasion to observe the wild cochineal in the kingdom of New Granada, Quito, Peru, and in Mexico, though he was not fortunate enough to see the fine cochineal ; but having consulted persons who had lived long in the mountains of Misteca, and having had at command extracts from several manuscript memoirs, drawn up by order of the Count de Tessa, during his stay at Mexico, by alcaides and ecclesiastics of the bishopric of Oaxaca, he obtained some useful information respect ing an insect which has become of the very first impor tance to European manufactures.