Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/594

574 in soil and climate for the cultivation of the vine, and its progress has doubtless been retarded by the aboriginal pulque and mescal, and aguardiente from the sugar-cane. Its development will probably assume important proportions during the present generation, the success which is attending viticulture in California acting as a stimulus. The state of Sonora especially, from its similarity to California in the necessary conditions, offers inducements to enterprise in this industry. Besides Parras, Paso del Norte, in Chihuahua, has gained a good reputation for wine-producing requisites.

Different in class to the preceding productions are others connected almost exclusively with foreign commerce. Prominent among them is cochineal. The culture of the insect which yields this dye was, and still is, almost confined to the state of Oajaca, where a great proportion of the Indian population used to find employment in the nurture of the bug and its preparation for market. This production in colonial times was considerable and very valuable, as also during the earlier years of the republic. More lately the culture of cochineal has greatly declined, owing to the discovery and extensive use of cheaper mineral dyes which supply its place.

The indigo plant grows wild in many parts of Mexico, especially in Yucatan and Tabasco, the extraction