Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/98

72 and valuable product has been left almost entirely to the care of Indians. Its cultivation is exceedingly simple. A shoot of the plant is inserted in the ground at the foot of a tree intended to support the future vine, which, if properly freed from the encumbrance of other parasites, soon embraces the trunk, and yields beans during the third year. This hardy and fruitful plant lasts from a quarter to half a century, according to the attention that is bestowed on it; and it is remarkable that its cultivation has not engaged the attention of foreigners who might safely reside in the beautiful and healthy regions of Jalapa.

, like vainilla, is a parasitic plant; but its root instead of its fruit is used for medicinal purposes. Its leaves resemble the ivy and its beautiful red flowers open only at night. Growing plentifully in the neighborhood of Jalapa, whence it takes its name, it is usually sent abroad through Vera Cruz, where the commercial returns show that more than three thousand quintals are rarely exported.

The use of chocolate is so universal in Mexico and throughout Spanish countries, that it might naturally be supposed the cultivation of cacao was largely and carefully attended to in the republic. Such, however, is not the case. The cacao of Soconusco, and of the low grounds of Caraccas, Guatemala and Guyaquil, was found to be so superior to the Mexican article, that its production has been almost abandoned except in the neighborhood of Colima, or on the Isthmus and in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas.

The, or Indian fig, a species of cactus is the food in Mexico which supports an insect from whose body the dye known as is made. It is found also in Brazil where it nourishes the grana sylvestre which affords a dye that is greatly inferior in color as well as durability to that produced by the grana fina of Mexico.

The grana fina resembles a small bug in size and color, covered with a whitish mealy powder, through which the rings or cross stripes on the back of the insect are distinctly visible; the female alone produces the dye; the males are smaller, and one is found sufficient to impregnate three hundred females.