270 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [September 30,1871. 
To prevent so much guano injuring the plants, artificial 
■watering is freely resorted to if necessary; a good soak¬ 
ing being given to the ground every three weeks. The 
cactus cannot bear much water when not strengthened 
with manure, neither can it bear much manure unless it 
is copiously watered. 
When a plantation is reserved for the production of a 
winter crop, the leaves are covered with cochineal in the 
months of October or November; the young cochineal 
planted at this season ripens, and is ready for gathering 
at the latter end of February or of March. Another 
plantation of cacti is reserved for receiving the seed at 
this season ; but as the plants cannot be forced to bud 
during the winter, the seed must be planted in March 
upon last year’s leaves, which have the disadvantage of 
being tough for the insect, and this renders a winter 
crop more precarious than one obtained in summer. 
However, the sale of “ madres ” in June brings a quicker 
return than the dry crop of August or September. The 
wind and rain during the winter months frequently de¬ 
stroy half the crops, and in summer a hot south wind 
(“ levante ”) will often kill many of the insects. In 
order to prevent the losses thus occasioned, light cover¬ 
ing of cotton gauze is spread over the whole plantation 
upon stakes and wires, at a height of about 7 feet. Mats 
have been used for the purpose, amd also calico, but 
these materials are found to injure the insects during the 
winter by keeping off the sunshine, and in summer by 
preventing the free circulation of air. The baskets are 
emptied as soon as possible,—the insects that lie at the 
bottom being injured by the weight,—and the cochineal 
spread out on trays, or even on a sheet on the ground, 
not deeper than from two to three inches, otherwise the 
grain will assume a reddish tinge, which considerably 
diminishes its value. The cochineal gathered during 
the day is treated in this way, and towards evening is 
put into an oven heated to about 150° F.; there it is left 
for four or five hours, the temperature being carefully 
kept up; afterwards the even is allowed to cool gra¬ 
dually until the morning, when the insects are still 
moist. Exposure to the sun for a few days in summer 
will complete the drying, and it is found that there is 
less loss of weight when the cochineal is dried in this 
manner than would occur if subjected to greater heat, or if 
left a longer time in the oven in order to dry it at once; 
even in winter many growers prefer to let their cochineal 
dry slowly in the air rather than by the heat of the oven, 
the loss of time being of less importance than the loss of 
weight. Some growers do not use the oven; a table¬ 
spoonful of wood ashes is spread over a pound or two of 
cochineal, it kills it in a couple of hours; the dust and 
ashes are then shaken off from the grain in a sieve, and 
the cochineal is dried in the sun. Others prepare the 
cochineal by putting it into sacks in moderate quantities; 
two men grasp the sacks at each end, and shake the 
grain briskly backwards and forwards; this process gives 
the cochineal a brilliant polish, and though less weight 
is finally obtained from a given quantity of green cochi¬ 
neal, the price it commands in the London market com¬ 
pensates for the loss of weight. But the best processes 
for preparing this polished cochineal are known only to 
a few, who keep the secret jealously; the oven is, there¬ 
fore, still almost universally used for drying. 
After the grain is thoroughly dried, it is well sifted in 
order to free it from a white powder which to the last 
clings to it; numbers of prickles which have fallen from 
the leaves have also to be removed. Excellent machines 
have been invented for this purpose both in England 
and America. The cochineal being thus dried and 
cleaned, it is packed for exportation into bags contain¬ 
ing about 150 lbs. each, which are carefully sewn up. 
This is done by the trader who buys it of the cultivator, 
the latter rarely exporting the grain on his own account. 
The results obtained by different growers of cochineal 
vary so much, in consequence of the peculiar circum¬ 
stances to which the crops are exposed in different loca¬ 
lities, that it is impossible to fix upon the actual value of 
an average yield per acre; but it is universally admitted 
by the land owners in the Canary Islands, that no other 
branch of agriculture is as reimmerative. The average 
temperature in the southern part of the Canary Islands 
is about 80° to 85° F., and it rarely falls at night below 
56° or 60°. At Laguna and at Orotora, and other places 
in Teneriffe, where cochineal is cultivated at a height of 
nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea, the climate is 
temperate,—the thermometer rising to 72° or 78° in the- 
summer, and falling at times during winter nights to 45°. 
In all these places the cactus thrives, and cochineal can 
consequently be reared successfully. 
The average price at which the “madres” can be ob¬ 
tained varies much at different times, falling as low as 
9 d., and frequently rising to 2s. 6d. and even 3s. per 
pound. 
The management of the insect gives employment to a 
large number of women; it may almost exclusively be 
conducted by them. The larger proprietors employ 
most of their hands during the whole year, so as to com¬ 
mand a full number when the labour of the season comes, 
on. The wages of the women in the valley of Orotora. 
is 6d. per day, or 3s. 6 d. per week for the best workers. 
Day labourers receive at the rate of 6s. 3 d. per week for 
digging and planting, etc. etc. The successful culture 
of the cochineal requires experience and patient attention, 
on the part of the grower; he will receive his reward by 
obtaining a return of from 25 to 30 per cent, upon the. 
capital employed. 
COMPOSITION OF CUBEBS. 
BY E. A. SCHMIDT. 
The analysis of fresh cubebs gave the following- 
result :— 
Per cent. 
Water . .. 
Essential oil. 
Brown colouring matter . . 
Gum. 
Starch . 
Albumen. 
Extractive matter and salts . 
Oxalate of lime. 
Cubebine. 
Acid resin (cubebic acid) . . 
Indifferent resin. 
Green fatty oil. 
Greenish-yellow soft fat . . 
Vegetal skeleton. 
Loss. 
100-00 
The essential oil is colourless or pale green, tasting- 
and smelling- intensely of cubebs ; it consists of two oils, 
the one being lighter, of sp. gr. 0-915, boiling-point 220 o> 
C., the other being less than one-half, has a sp. gr. of 
0-937, and boiling-point 250° C. They both contain. 
88-26 C and 11-74 H, corresponding to C 30 H 24 . 
It is neutral, soluble in 17 parts of absolute alcohol, it 
fulminates with iodine, is decomposed by sulphuric acid r 
and gives with hydrochloric acid vapour a solid and a* 
liquid compound. The oil of fresh cubebs does not: 
contain any stearoptenc, like that made from old cubebs. 
Cubebine forms fine white needles, by itself it is 
tasteless, but it imparts a bitter taste to an alcoholic solu¬ 
tion ; it is insoluble in cold, and slightly soluble in hot 
water, soluble in 30 parts of ether, and in 75 parts of 
alcohol; also in chloroform, bisulphide of carbon, acetic 
acid, and in fatty and essential oils; it melts at 125°-126‘ > ‘ 
C., boils at 190° C., but does not volatilize. It is neutral; 
concentrated sulphuric acid colours it red, nitric acid 
brown .—Arclxiv der Pharm. cxli. 1. 
4-75 
14-22 
6-94 
8-19 
1- 78 
2- 71 
4-22 
0-40 
2-48 
0-96 
2-56 
1-18 
0-51 
43-07 
6-03 
:23-84 soluble- 
in water. 
