CRUZ e GONÇALVES, Santiago da Nova instrucçaõ sobre a Cultura dos Nopales, e Criação da Cochinilha d'America, para uso dos Lavradores das Canarias . . Traduzida por Miguel de Carvalho e Almeida Junior. Para uso dos Proprietarios e Lavradores Madeirences. Lisbon Typ. de A.J.C. da Cruz 1837
8vo. VIII, 12 pp. Wrappers.
A very scarce and curious work, both in the original Spanish and in translations. Queen of the dyestuffs, cochineal was a luxury dye used for textiles, considered by the importers of Seville to be royal merchandise. The cochineal insect feeds on nopal, a species of cactus, native to Mexico and Peru. Drawing on his experience in Mexico, the author promotes its cultivation in the Canary Islands, which had begun early in the century and which was later to provide much of Europe with the cochineal it consumed. For patriotic motives, and to further the island's economy, the translator encourages (pp. III-VIII) its cultivation in Madeira, stresses how easily it may be grown and the financial gains. Innocêncio VI, 230 lists the work under the translator's name. Not in Palau (but who cites under 160826 a Memoria sobre el Nopel y cria de la cochinilla de América, para uso de los labradores canarios. Laguna, D.S. Diaz Machado, 1826).
£185
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