44 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



hatched, and from whence the little cochineals soon 

 proceed. 



The cultivation of the Nopal and its cochineal 

 was originally confined to the district of La Misteca, 

 in the State of Oaxaca, in Mexico, where some 

 plantations contain upwards of 60,000 separate 

 plants set in straight lines, each being about four 

 feet high, which height it is not allowed to exceed, 

 so that the insect may be easily gathered. The 

 flower is always carefully cut away. These planta- 

 tions are called Nopaleries (Nopaleros), from the 

 name of the plant, which is chiefly cultivated for 

 cochineal in Mexico. We are told that the greatest 

 quantity of this insect employed in commerce is 

 produced from small nopaleries belonging to Indians 

 of extreme poverty. 



Two varieties of cochineal are gathered and sent 

 into the market, the wild kind from the woods, 

 called by the Spaniards grana sylvestra, and the 

 cultivated, or grana fina. The former is decidedly 

 inferior in quality to the latter, and furnishes far less 

 colouring matter. 



The insect in its natural state is of a dark-brown 

 colour, but fine cochineal when well dried and pro- 

 perly preserved should have a grey tint bordering 

 on purple. The grey colour is owing to the downy 

 hair which naturally covers its body, and to a slight 

 quantity of wax. The purple shade arises from the 



