«34 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May i, 1885. 



COST OF DEMERARA ESTATE OF 1,000 HHDS. 



Purchase 750 acres land at $10 



Cultivating 500 acres till reaping begins, at 



$100 



Buildings to make 50 tons per week at £30 



per ton ... 



Dwellings for 500 labourers, 200 rooms at 5100 



Hospital 



Managers' ami Overseers' Dwellings 



Stock 



Punts for Canes $8,000. Do. Shipping ? 3,00O 

 Immigration expenses first year 

 Sluices, kokers, for drainage and water supply 

 Contingencies 10 per cent on 4199,500 



Dollars. 

 7,500 



50,000 



72,000 

 20,000 



8,000 

 13,000 



2,000 

 11,000 



6,000 

 10,000 

 19,950 



•>219,450 



To the Editor, Argosy. 



**« The current charges for bag Sugars consigned to 

 Merchants in the old way, and on the basis of a price of 

 15s. per cwt. should work out as follows: — 



s. d. 



Freight per Royal M,ail Steam _ 1 4J 



London wharf charges, with one month's rent 3£ 

 Marine Insurance tR. M. S. all the year, 12s. ^ 



fid. per cent.) C. 



Fire Insurance in Loudou, at 6s. per centj 

 per ann. J 



Brokerage at i per cent 



London public sale charges 



Merchants' Commission at 2i per cent 



14 



1 



Oh 



4i 



2 3i 

 The charges for hogsheads come to more, and the 

 housing and other charges at the docks are considerably 

 higher, both for hogsheads and bags, than those given 

 above, after allowing for the "discount" of Is. 6d. per 

 ton. The dock charges, however, cover two months' rent, 

 and the fire insurance costs less there. Primage and 

 effecting insurance appear quite unnecessary charges ; and 

 as no credit is giveu in the London market, no del cred- 

 ere ought to be debited to the planter. "0," in his 

 original letter (quoted at length iu the P. M. 11. for the 

 29th November, 1884, and remarked on in the issue of 

 the 6th December), does not appear to have allowed 

 enough for dock and other charges here by about 9§d. per 

 ewt. This would bring up his estimate of the landed cost 

 in London, including all charges, of Demerara Sugar to 

 15s. 7.Vd. per cwt. Interest at 5 per cent on the cost of 

 the estate given above would be 2s. 9d. per cwt. which 

 can be included or not according to the views of the calc- 

 ulator on such points. If the Planters extracted tin- 

 saccharine from their Molasses as the Germans do, there 

 would be no Rum, but the more valuable Sugar instead. 

 —Ed. /'. M. R. 



COCA: ITS SOURCE, CULTURE, USES, &c. 



The following is the lecture delivered by Dr. Bidie, 

 M.n., C.T.F,., in Madrars on the 28th March: — 



The subject of my lecture tonight is Coca, which, 

 owinj to certain medicinal and other properties that it 

 has been found to possess, is likely to become of very 

 great importance as a commerical product, and as a 

 therapeutical agent both in Surgery and Medicine. The 

 substance known as Coca consists of the dried leaves of 

 a Sonth American plant, known to botanists as Erythroxylon 

 Coca. In Southern India we have a species which some- 

 what resembles tl.e American one, viz. JE. monnr/ynum,* 

 common in CuddapaH and various other dry districts, 

 where it is known as Dejuadaru and Adai-i ooranta. A 

 curious thing hap] ened during the famine with reference 

 to the Demdaru. In Cuddapah the starving people were 

 found to be eating considerable quantities of the leaves 

 of a shrub, some of which were sent to me for indeutific- 

 ation. Judging from their appearance, the leaves, which 

 were rather dry and fibrous, did not seem likely to 

 afford any nourishment, nor had they any special taste 

 or flavour to commend them as a relish or condiment. 



* Formerly cajled Sethia indica, D. C. 



They were found to belong to a species, of the same 

 genus as the South American Coca, and it at once occurred 

 to me that, like it, they probably possessed the property 

 of allaying hunger and staving off fatigue. No chemical 

 examination has, so far as I know, been made of the 

 leaves of the Bevadaru eaten by the famine-stricken people, 

 but it is a curious coincidence that they should have been 

 so used, and further enquiry may reveal that the Madras 

 species contains some active principle allied to, or identical 

 with, that of the American plant. 



BOTANY. 



According to Decandolle (" Origin of Cultivated Plants," 

 p. 130,) Erythroxylon Coca, Lam. is a uative of the east. 

 of Peru and Bolivia. It -belongs to the tribe Erythroxi/lae 

 of the order Linacea or Flax family, and its specific 

 appellation, Coca, is supposed to be derived from the 

 native name, klioka or tree, that is the tree par excellence 

 (Markham's " Travels in Peru and India," p. 235.) It is 

 now some time since the plant was introduced into this 

 Presidency direct from Kew, and also by Mr. Cross, when 

 he paid his last visit to the Nilgiris, entrusted with some 

 new species of Cinchona. As seen here, and also in its 

 native country, Coca is a bushy shrub, with numerous 

 smooth leaves of a beautiful golden green colour above, 

 and paler and glaucous on the under surface. The leaves 

 are lanceolate or somewhat oval in shape, and trapering 

 at the base towards the leaf stalk. At the upper end 

 they are blunt and emarginate with, when young, a 

 little prickle-like process iu the middle of the notch. 

 The characteristic marks of the leaf are two arched raised 

 lines on the back, which extend from the base to the 

 apex— one on each side of the midrib— and enclose a 

 space which is somewhat hollow and paler in colour than 

 the rest of the surface. The flowers are small on slender 

 drooping s-alks, and of a yellowish colour. The fruit is 

 a pretty little drupe over one-fourth inch in length, of 

 oblong ovoid shape, quite plump when green, but furrowed 

 longitudinally when dry. It takes from a fortnight to 

 three weeks to germinate in Madras, and is easily raised 

 m pans containing a mixture of leaf mould and sand. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Coca is cultivated to a very large extent iu Peru, 

 Bolivia and Columbia, and also in parts of Brazil, the 

 Argentine States and other countries of South America. 

 It is said to thrive best in the moist mild climate, which 

 exists at an elevation of from 2,000 to 5,000 feet above 

 sea-level in the warm moist valleys of the eastern slopes 

 of the Andes of Peru (Bentley and Trimeu's " Medicinal 

 Plants," No. -40). The Coca plant iu this Presidency 

 thrives very well at sea-level on the Coast, but its 

 culture will probably be found much easier and inor^ 

 successful at higher elevations, say, from 1,500 to 6,000 feet 



HISTORY. 



The commerical product known as Coca, consists of the 

 dried leaves, which are used as a masticatory by the 

 Peruvian Indians to give comfort and enjoyment just 

 as the betel leaf is chewed iu India. From time 

 immemorial the inhabitants of countries ou the Pacific 

 side of America have used this leaf, and, according to 

 Markham. the Peruvians still look upon il '* with feelings 

 of superstitious veneration." In the time of the Incas, 

 the former rulers of the. country, it was employed in 

 sun-worship, and also iu barter instead of money. After 

 the Spanish conquest, some fanatical invaders proposed 

 to presei ibe its use and stop its culture, on the grounds 

 that it fostered ancient superstitions and took away the 

 Indians from other work. In 15G9 the second council 

 of Lima condemned its use, because it was "a useless 

 and pernicious leaf, and on accouut of the belief, stated 

 to bo entertained by the Indians, that the habit of 

 chewing Coca gave them strength, which is an illusion 

 of the devil" (Cedula, quoted by Markham iu his 

 "Travels in Peru and India," p. 232). About the same 

 time the Spanish Government interfered with the 

 cultivation, on account of the unhealthiness of the valleys 

 in which the " Cocales " or plantations were situated. 

 Subsequently, between 1570 and 1571, the Viceroy, Don 

 Francisco Toledo, endeavoured, by various edicts, to 

 regulate the industry, so as to protect the health of the 

 Indian labourers, and to ensure their being properly paid. 

 According to Beutloy aud Triineu ("Medicinal Plants." 



