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Show KNOW YOUR vjy' NEIGHBOR CRA.U. PUAMl'ACiN K, "l iom K-CUOWN" PUAULS, ouciiins AND IN TU1C AMKR1CAS and Now our sohsou is n festive one. As our thoughts turn onco more towards some of the c.,v frivolous things that nro part of tho rejoicing we wonder where they come from, and how world conditions nro affecting pearls orchids, or-chids, champagne and other such charming but superfluous objects Upon seeing n pretty woman with a pearl necklace and a corsage of orchids, sipping champngne out of a cool glass, it seems, in fact, dif- I'lcult to believe that nil ay have b n ' ! ' rnr" tho America. " I e'rownl "ore true ' n0thinS nrlH were one of the things ,h,lt the Spaninr(l3 Qn I nquost of the New World cl P-imens as an exampfo? l! , " h(7 npw domain could yield won as Vasco Nunez de Balboa Covtez de Soto and Sir Watter Si s LBiow,nB a wearP Tn d rr ?W the natives wear in different parts of the Americas. Nature had, indeed, giv! en ech hemisphere a pearl-pduc- Jntr region of its own, and whie s S10!;b0aStS the Ocean ns its submarine jewel-box, the warm waters of the Americas also contribute an important share to the pcan produce of the wQrd The Gulf of California is probably the most productive area of our hemisphere. There are important fisheries off the coast of Mexico whore more modern diving methods meth-ods are in use than in other American Amer-ican countries. The black pearls of this region are known the world . oven A few miles off the mainland of Panama, on the gulf of the same name, the Pearl Islands are another important pearling center, the Cathedral of Panama's unusual unus-ual "mother of pearl" decoration being a tangible proof that pearls are not rare in that country. Colombia Co-lombia has fisheries both on its Pacific and Atlantic .coasts while in Venezuela pearl-diving developed devel-oped to such an extent that it has now been restricted to prevent the complete extermination of the beds. As for so-called "japanese," or artifically grown pearls, they have of recent years been produced pro-duced in Brazil. Pearls from the Americas are found among the crow jewels of almost every Eu- ropean ruler, some of them, such as the famous Mexican black pearl presented by the Spanish government govern-ment to Napoleon HI, having attracted at-tracted world-wide attention. While pearls grow on the shallow shal-low bottoms of the warmest waters wat-ers of our continent, orchids, strangely enough, appear on the shores of those very same tropical regions. Although "orchids of one kind or another are almost universally uni-versally found in the tropical and temperate zones, the ones from Central and South America are justly reirded as furnishing the climax for this group, as being the 'aristocrats of the aristocrats.' " Of the many explorers who have, in the last century or two roamed the wild jungles of Latin America in quest of new species of the rare flower, some have never come back. Others, instead, have brought back to civilization the magnificent magnifi-cent blooms that are .today, admired ad-mired behind the glass windows of fashionable florists throughout the world. The lovely mauve "Cattle ya," perhaps the most popular of all orchids, is originally from Colombia Co-lombia and Venezuela, while other-well-known species come from Panama, sometimes called "the home of the orchid," from Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. Blooms from a Colombian orchid estate have been known to grace the table of a hostess in the United States only two days after they had been, cut and Venezuelan orchids have also been flown to this country for balls and weddings. wed-dings. As for champagne, its production is part of one of the oldest agricultural agri-cultural industries in South America: Amer-ica: that of wine-making. In Chile and Argentina, principally, and a little in Peru, grapes have been cultivated since the arrival of the first settlers who brought with them vines from "the old country." coun-try." Chilean wines have grown to be greatly esteemed in Eurojs, its champagne being amon those particularly appreciated in foreign countries. Argentina, after producing pro-ducing and even over-producing wines for her own consumption, has lately been exporting shipments ship-ments of wanes including a very fine champagne. If we add to this South American champagne t.he production of our own California, it will be difficult not to drink a toast on this New Year's celebration celebra-tion to our fair, free and every day more productive Continent! |