VEGETABLE AND IMITATION 285
Machalilla,
and Guayaquil; shelled nuts come from Manta, Guayaquil, Cayo,
Machalilla, Manta, Esmeraldas, Macara, and Puerto Bolivar. The best
quality of tagua is secured in Puerto Bolivar and Macara, and is
shipped from Guayaquil. The best and soundest nuts are those picked
from the trees; those which have fallen off and are collected from the
ground are frequently wormy. The weight of unshelled tagua received in
Bahia in 1913 was 8,000,000 pounds, but the shelled product finally
exported weighed only 4,755,100 pounds, showing a loss in weight for
shells and defective nuts of 3,244,900. The worm-eaten nuts are usually
weeded out at the haciendas before the product is sent to Guayaquil,
as exporters refuse to buy them, not merely because of their defective
condition, but also on account of the risk that they will infect the
sound nuts if packed up with them. At present the first quality of
tagua is sold in warehouses in Ecuador for 7 sucres ($3.41) for 100
pounds, ordinary commercial nuts bringing 6 sucres ($2.92) for 100
pounds; rejected nuts could be had as low as 1 sucre (48.7 cents) for
100 pounds. In each case the cost is increased by $1.70 for export duty
and shipping expenses. One shelling machine is at work in the Province
of Manavi, and there are several others in operation in various parts
of Ecuador. An important recent foundation is the Ecuadorian
Industrial Company of New York, said to owe its organization to a
former United States minister to Ecuador. This company will install a
plant in Manta for shelling the nuts and giving the kernels the first
rough shaping for button manufacture, thus saving the freight charge
on superfluous material.*
The extensive use of vegetable ivory is shown by the large imports of this material into the United States from
"Consul-General Frederick W. Goding of Guayaquil, "Vegetable Ivory Exports from Ecuador," Daily Consular and Trade Reports.
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