Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/597

Rh, who used it in their chocolate. Little care is required in its cultivation, it only being necessary to suppress hardier creepers around it. The pods which constitute the vanilla of commerce are first dried in the sun, then sweated in woollen cloths, and again dried. Humboldt estimated the annual average export of the article through Vera Cruz at $60,000, since which time its production has increased fivefold.

From another parasitical plant is procured the drug jalap, which derives its name from the city of Jalapa. The medicinal properties are contained in the root, the virtues of which the Spaniards obtained a knowledge of from the Aztecs. Cultivation of the plant was not commenced before 1865, when exhaustion of the wild species growing in the forests of Jalapa, Orizaba, and Córdoba doubtless necessitated its culture.

Among the numerous contributions of the Mexican forests to the pharmacopolist, mention can only be made of the sarsaparilla, ipecacuanha, rhubarb, gentian, sassafras, valerian, and verbena. But these forests, which yield in such lavish abundance timber, dye-woods, and other useful produce, in some parts