674 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
In the valley of Mazation the Vanilla abounds in a wild state and the article is 
of the finest grade. The curing is thus described: ‘‘To cure properly requires about 
ninety days, and the manipulation is almost infinite, each bean being handled critie- 
ally from three hundred to five hundred times in the process by the Indians. The 
beans, as gathered, are disposed of in layers, first'a layer of beans and then a blanket, 
and so on tilla pile is formed. This is called the sweating process, and during its 
continuance the piles are turned two or three times a day until most of the water 
is sweated out. This process is followed by drying in the sun, and here the na- 
tives exercise the utmost care and attention. When finished the beans are to be the 
color of a very dark cigar. The attendant picks up each bean occasionally for ex- 
examination, and if he observes any part of the pod is coloring more rapidly than 
another he twists a bit of the leaf around the spot until the action of the sun shall. 
have affected all alike.” 
MAHOGANY TREE, 
J. S., EASTERN SHORE, MARYLAND. 
I inclose a few seeds of the Mahogany tree which grows in this part of the State. 
Since I learned that this tree was the mahogany Iam saving the seeds and mean 
to plant all I can get, and would ask you where I can get a supply, as I suppose 
that the tree is in other parts of this country. 
Answer.—The seeds sent are those of the Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus can- 
adensis), and has no botanical relation to the tree which yields the mahogany wood 
of commerce. 
It is called the coffee tree for the given reason that the early settlers in Kentucky, 
where the tree grows in the forests, used the beans as a substitute for coffee. 
The timber of this tree is of a fine compact grain and is sometimes used in cabi- 
net work, hence it is in some places called the mahogany tree. 
COCHINEAL. 
J. H., GUADALUPE County, TEX. 
I take the liberty of writing to you, as I wish to know if you could give me any 
information about Cochineal. We have here plenty of Prickly-pear (cactus), and 
I believe it is the same kind used in Madeira for the growth of the insect. I should 
be very thankful if you would let me know something about the matter. 
Answer.—The cochineal insect, Coccus cacti, feeds upon different kinds of Opuntia, 
or Prickly-pears. Opuntia Tuna and Opuntia, or Nopalea coceinellifera, are the 
species principally used in Mexico, and these, with Opuntia Ficus Indica, are em- 
ployed for a like purpose in the Canary Islands, New Grenada, and Madeira. 
In arranging plantations or, as they are sometimes termed, nopaleries for raising 
the cochineal insect, the plants are set out in formal lines, several feet a part, so that 
they can be cultivated similarly to a carefully checkered corn-field, and when the 
plants are large enough the insects are distributed upon fhe plants. These soon 
give origin to countless numbers of minute insects, of which the females soon in- 
crease rapidly in size until they almost lose the appearance of insects and look like 
small warts. At this stage of their growth they are gathered by detaching them 
from the plant by a fiat wedge-like stick, and placed in a lag, which is then dipped 
in boiling water to kill the insects, afterwards drying them in the sun. 
It has been estimated that 70,000 of these insects are required to make a pound o 
cochineal. 
It may be surmised that the profits of this industry will greatly depend upon the 
cost of the labor required for these manipulations. 
TREATMENT OF LAND. 
J. G. T., DELAWARE. 
Two years ago I took in hand a piece of ground completely exhausted through 
continued cropping without manure and so full of wire-worms that not even weeds 
can be got to grow. The>ground is a heavy loam, lying upon a stiff clay; every 
shower of rain makes it a puddle, and forty-eight hours of sunshine makes it so hard 
that it is next to impossible to break it up; manure plowed in can be turned up months 
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