" Having thus chosen a high altitude, the next thing is to select a soil. A rivalry exists between 

 a yellow clay and a hill-side soil rich in vegetable matter. My assays have yielded the best results (as 

 to total alkaloids) from soils of the latter class and I am inclined to think that those who prefer the 

 former 6oil do so because it yields a somewhat larger crop. 



" The ground for the nursery-bed is prepared during the latter part of the dry season by breaking 

 it up very thoroughly to the depth of a foot or more. The fruits mature during the early part of the 

 rainy seasons, December and January. They are red, and consist of a fleshy outer portion and a shell- 

 like inner portion, which encloses the single seed. These people suppose that the germ cannot escape 

 from the shell if planted in its natural condition, and they have continued for hundreds of years to 

 deposit the seeds as soon as gathered in a shaded place, in layers an inch or more deep and covered with 

 a thin layer of decaying leaves or similar substance. The heat generated by the decomposition of the 

 fleshy pericarp serves to induce germination, and the embryo bursts from its bony covering. This 

 growth unites them in from eight to fourteen days into a solid mass, which is broken up into small 

 pieces and planted in furrows in the nursery. In this process very many of the sprouts are broken off 

 and the plants destroyed. Mr. Lohse has adopted the plan of sewing the seeds broadcast as soon as 

 gathered, and covering with a little earth, or better, a layer of banana leaves or decaying vegetable 

 matter. Germination requires from eight to twelve days longer, but all the plants are saved. 



" In either case, a covering of brush or straw must be placed over the nursery, at first only three or 

 four inches above the surface, and elevated to six or seven inches, as*the plants grow. Usually this 

 elevation is repeated once more. 



" All this taking place during the rainy season, the plants have reached a good size before the 

 advent of the dry weather, and so do not call for any artificial water supply. 



"Advantage is taken of the ensuing dry season to clear the land and prepare the ground for the new 

 cocal. On the manner in which this is done depends much of the future well being of the plants. The 

 ground should be thoroughly powdered to the depth of two, and, if possible, three feet, all roots and large 

 stones being removed. On these steep slopes it is necessary to terrace, the terraces being supported by 

 stone walls, the stones laid dry. The width of the terraces, according to the slope, varies from several 

 feet, with a number of rows of plants, to much less than the height of the wall, only a single row 

 of plants being admissible. It is here generally believed that shade tends to the production of the best 

 quality of leaves ; so the cocales are planted thickly with a small broad topped leguminous tree related 

 to the St. J ohn's bread, but whose name I cannot at this moment recall. There is no doubt that this is 

 a mistake. I have made repeated comparative assays of shade-grown and sun- grown leaves from adjoin- 

 ing plants, and invariably found the latter much richer in total alkaloids. I judge the custom to have 

 arisen from two considerations. There is, as I have stated, a period of two or three months when the 

 plants receive no rain, and then these trees afford a protection from the fierce heat. Secondly, shade 

 conduces to the production of a large, smooth, beautiful leaf, of elegant colour, and thus adds to the 

 appearance of the product. The terraces being thus prepared, on the advent of the permanent season, 

 the plants, now from 8 to 12 inches high, are transplanted, being set from one half to six inches apart, 

 according to the ideas of the haciendero. From this time uotil the first leaves are picked, the greatest 

 care must be taken to keep the soil thoroughly stirred and free from weeds. The plants having been 

 transferred in October or November of one year, the first picking is made in March or April of the 

 second following year, one year and a half from the time of transplanting, or two and one half from the 

 seeds. In case an insufficient space has been prepared, the remaining plants are often left until the 

 following year, and then transplanted, the operation being much more dangerous to the life of the plants. 



"The chief danger of picking the leaves earlier than the period indicated above is not the strain 

 upon the vitality of the young plant, as many of the leaves drop off themselves, but because it is almost 

 impossible to avoid breaking off the very tender tips of the twigs, the result being fatal to many plants. 

 Immediately after this first picking, fresh leaves develop with great rapidity, and in July or August 

 of the same year the plant flowers for the first time. The lovely white flowers, if undisturbed, remain 

 from three to six days, but from the very first they are dislodged by the slightest jar. the corolla falling 

 entire, although it is morphologically polypetalous. The fruit ripens in December and January. 



"During the first few years the percentage of alkaloid increases rapidly, reaching its maximum at 

 or before the age of ten years. At the age of twenty it begins to diminish, but with extreme slowness, 

 so that the plants are practically in their prime up to the age of thirty-five or forty. It is probable 

 that the decline is then due rather to the exhaustion of the soil than of the vitality of the plant. Fer- 

 tilisation of the soil has never been resorted to. It is probable, as suggested by Mr. Lohse, that as much 

 can be done for the Coca in this way as has been done for other plants. 



"A Coca harvest is called a mita, an Indian word meaning a division or drawing of lots, and there 

 are from three to five in a year, according to the season. The time of picking is determined solely by 

 the condition of the leaves. When they have become mature they turn yellow if in the dry season, and 

 brown if in the rainy, and within eight days at the outside will fall to the ground and be lost. As 

 soon as the mita is over, the ground is cleared from weeds, and, under an ignorant notion that further 

 cleaning is injurious, is left undisturbed until after the next mita. But Mr. Lohse has tried the plan 

 of keeping the ground clean, with the result, thus far, of receiving the next crop in little more than one- 

 half the time required by his neighbours. No irrigation is resorted to during the dry season. Although 

 it is possible that good might result, at least to the welfare of the plant and the size of the crop. I 

 suspect that after a long time an abundant and steady supply of water would result in a decrease in the 

 amount of alkaloids. Mr. Lohse has tried the experiment of mulching at the end of the wet season 

 with a few inches of banana leaves or other refuse, with excellent effect upon the plants during the suc- 

 ceeding dry season. 



" This plant is subject to only two diseases of any importance. The first is taja, which I suppose 

 to be the result of a fungus which attacks the undeveloped leaves and tender twigs. It is said by some 



