M  Cochineal  Production  in  Cent.  America.  {AMjS* 
stroying  these  caterpillars,  except  employing  people  to  pick  them  off, 
which  is  done  at  so  much  for  every  twenty  grubs,  according  to  their 
abundance  or  scarcity,  the  price  being  seldom  under  what  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  half-penny  for  each  twenty,  or  above  one  penny  for  that 
number.  Still,  when  the  grubs  are  very  numerous,  it  is  sometimes 
necessary  to  abandon  the  crop  of  cochineal,  which  is  not  worth  the 
expense  of  picking  off  the  caterpillars  ;  this  of  course  is,  however,  a 
rare  occurrence,  and  never  happens  to  the  whole  of  an  estate  of  any 
size. 
With  all  its  objections  cochineal  growing  has  certainly  been  more 
profitable  in  Amatitlan  than  in  Old  Guatemala,  or  any  other  place 
yet  discovered.  Nearly  all  the  cultivators  in  Amatitlan  are  well  off? 
and  many  who  were  without  means  a  few  years  ago,  are  now  rich  for 
Central  America,  having  a  fortune  of  from  10,000  to  30,000  dollars; 
while  nearly  all  who  have  attempted  the  cultivation  in  Old  Guatemala 
have  been  ruine'd,  and  very  lew  have  realized  any  money.  Still  the 
supposed  fatality  of  the  climate  of  Amatitlan  has  so  great  an  effect 
as  not  only  to  raise  enormously  the  price  which  must  be  paid  to  the 
workpeople  to  induce  them  to  do  the  necessary  labor,  but  keeps  the 
value  of  cochineal  estates  rather  lower  than  in  Old  Guatemala. 
The  second  crop  of  cochineal  is  fit  for  gathering  in  Amatitlan  from 
the  end  of  March  to  the  20th  of  April ;  and  the  crop  in  Old  Guate- 
mala from  the  middle  of  April  till  the  10th  or  20th  of  May,  accord- 
ing to  the  season.  Nearly  the  whole  of  both  these  crops  are  dried 
and  cleaned  for  exportation  to  Europe,  of  which  they  are  the  princi- 
pal source  of  supply.  But  a  small  number  of  insects  are  preserved, 
and  being  put  into  small  bags,  similar  to  those  before  described,  are 
attached  to  leaves  carefully  ranged  upon  shelves  under  the  long  nar- 
row buildings,  called  almacenes,  the  leaves  being  seeded  in  a  similar 
manner  to  the  growing  plants.  The  insects  attain  their  full  size  and 
commence  to  breed  again  in  about  ninety  days,  which  brings  it  to  the 
month  of  July,  when  those  so  reared  are  gathered  and  attached  in  the 
same  manner  to  fresh  leaves  of  the  cactus,  ranged  under  cover  as  be- 
fore ;  this  crop  is  again  ready  for  gathering  in  the  month  of  October, 
when  the  rains  cease  in  Amatitlan,  and  is  sold  for  seeding  the  cochi- 
neal estates.  The  price  being  regulated  by  the  supply,  as  compared 
with  the  demand,  is  but  little  affected  by  the  value  of  dry  cochineal ; 
the  live  insect  being  always  then  worth  at  least  three  or  four  times  its 
value  in  the  months  of  April  or  May,  when  it  is  dried  for  exportation. 
A  good  cochineal  estate  requires,  in  the  month  of  October,  from  100 
