The rich red color that resulted from this process was permanently fixed 

 on the cotton yarn or cloth used in shawls, ginghams, and table coverings. 



*COCHINEAL (Dac/vlopius coccus, formerly known as Coccus cacti). 

 Also known as cochenille (Fr.); die Cochenille (Ger.) 



When the Spaniards entered Mexico in 1518 they found the natives dyeing 

 with cochineal. This red dyestuff which the Spaniards mistook for tiny 

 seeds was actually the dried bodies of the insect Dactylopius coccus. Soon the 

 Spaniards shipped the dye back to Spain for export to various parts of 

 Europe; later some cochineal was sent back across the ocean to the English 

 colonies. Guatemala and Mexico were at first the two main sources of this 

 dye, because the insects' food Opuntia cochenillifera (sometimes called "nopal" 

 or "cactus opuntia") grew in these countries. 



Opuntia also flourished in Georgia and South Carolina, thus there were 

 great hopes that cochineal could also be produced in this country. In 1762 

 the Society of Arts offered a premium of £40 for the largest quantity im- 

 ported from the colonies (Bishop, 1866, vol. 1, p. 350); however, there 

 seems to be little further reference to its production here. 



Although it was high priced, after 1 793 cochineal was considered a staple 

 red dye along with the cheaper madder. Coarse woolen stuffs were dyed 

 with madder or orchil, but fine cloth was almost exclusively dyed with 

 cochineal, according to an 1831 source. Its coloring principle, carminic 

 acid, produced beautiful crimsons, pinks, and scarlets on wool and silk 

 when mordanted with tin or alum. 



Cochineal-producing insects, either wild or domesticated, yielded equally 

 good color but the wild variety, yielding only one-fourth the amount of 

 dye, was considered less desirable. As the insect matured, the wingless 

 dye-yielding females were swept off the leaves to which they were attached 

 and killed in hot water, then dried in the sun, or placed in a bag and 

 stove-dried. The latter method yielded silver cochineal, so-called because 

 of its silver ash-gray color. The other type was blacker and drier, and called 

 "negra." It takes 70,000 dried insects to produce one pound of cochineal 

 and an acre planted with Opuntia yielded 250 to 300 pounds of the insects. 



Cochineal powder could be damaged by sea air and adulterated very 

 easily, sometimes with "stones large as a fly." Thus the wary buyer was 

 warned to examine each sample carefully. The home dyer probably relied 

 to a great extent on less expensive madder for her reds; however, if cochineal 

 was purchased for home use it could be ground to a powder in a coffee mill 

 or mortar. 



To dye woolen cloth, it was recommended that the cloth be finished — 

 milled, napped, and sheared — before dyeing, since subsequent dressing 

 would "tarnish the color." Dyeing was comparatively simple, with tin 



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