a 



fto be caused by careless picking, in which the twigs are broken. By others it is said to result from the 

 planting of seeds taken from young plants. The only remedy is to remove and burn the diseased por- 

 tions. The second disease, if such it can be called, is the ravages of a caterpillar called " uto," whieh 

 makes its appearance in December, and destroys the crop so quickly that it admits of no remedy. 



" The method of picking and drying the Coca has been so often and so well described of late that 

 it is not necessary to dwell upon it. Coca-picking is a profession to which the children are trained from 

 a tender age. The leaves are picked singly, both hands being employed with a rapid alternating motion 

 which strips a twig in an instant. Great caro is taken to avoid breaking the twigs, and the young 

 leaves are not picked. Little sacks are tied about the waist or the women's aprons are pinned or sewn 

 into the required form. They are then transferred to larger sacks, which must be filled and emptied 

 with great promptness, or the leaves will become heated and turn black. 



" The price here paid for picking is a Bolivian dollar, equal to about seventy-one cents United 

 States currency, or three shillings English, for each thirty pounds, which, when dry, will weigh about 

 twelve pounds. 



" The leaves are exposed to a hot sun upon a pavement of nicely fitted flat stones, and stirred 

 occasionally until dry. Under the most favourable conditions the drying is accomplished in about 

 three hours. About the Coca place are built the storage and packing sheds. These are furnished with 

 Tery broad doors, and men are in constant attendance to sweep the Coca with brush-brooms through 

 these broad portals at the slightest indication of rain. A very few drops of rain are sufficient to deco- 

 lorise and ruin the sale of the Coca, though it is my impression that such decolorisation, if produced 

 by but little rain, is no indication of loss of cocaine. During the first few days that the dry Coca lie* 

 within the storage-sheds it undergoes a slight sweating process. 



" When I come now to speak of the best methods of packing the Coca for export, it is fair to say 

 that nothing definite is known. Such Coca as has reached Europe or the United States in good condi- 

 tion has done so purely by accident ; for perhaps the very next lot, dried, packed, and shipped as nearly 

 as possible in the same manner, has arrived entirely ruined. I have tried many methods, and as often 

 as I had thought that the secret was discovered, my hopes have resulted in disappointment. 



" As regards the exportation of the culture of Coca, the experiment has been tried, I believe, but 

 once. Several years since, Mr. F. L. Steinart, of La Pay, shipped a small quantity of seeds via London 

 to Ceylon, and during the past season the first products were shipped to London and sold at a high 

 price. Seeds for export should be exposed for several days to a hot sun, so as to rapidly dry the fleshy 

 exterior, which thus forms a protection to the germ within. 



" It is my opinion that the Coca-plant is adapted for culture in many countries where it is now 

 unknown. Among the countries where it would be well to experiment with are Guatemala, Mexico, 

 the East and West Indies, India, Southern China, portions of Africa and possibly of Italy. It is 

 •doubtful if it would grow in any portion of the United States. Requiring an average temperature of 

 at least 70°, the only districts at all suited would be Florida and Southern Texas; aud it is highly prcJ 

 bable that proximity to the sea-coast at so low an altitude would prove fatal. Nor would irrigation 

 prove adequate in those countries possessing a long dry season. The plants must not only have an 

 abundant supply of water at the roots; they must be bathed in a humid atmosphere for the greater 

 portion of the year. But from what I have read of some of the countries above named, I am confident 

 that the plant would there find a congenial home. Jamaica offers especially hopeful conditions." 



ABANDONMENT OF ORANGE CULTURE IN THE AZORES. 



Copy. The Montreal Company (limited) Birmingham. 



To. W. Fawcett, Esqr., Botanical Department, Jamaica. t 



Dear Sir, 



Another piece of information that has come before me lately may be of interest to the readers of 

 your Bulletin. 



The fruit merchants in Paddingham mentioned to me that the shipments of oranges from St. 

 Michaels, Azores, were rapidly diminishing and that the island had in fact ceased to be an important 

 shipper of oranges, just as the neighbouring island of Terceira which formerly shipped a hundred car- 

 goes a year of oranges, ceased about 15 years ago to ship any. 



I was told that the cause of the failure in St. Michael was some disease, the effects of which were 

 shown by the fruit. 



I wrote to Mr. Reid, H.B.M.'s Consul in St. Michaels and received the following reply from him >3 

 " Two causes have operated in reducing the shipments of oranges from St. Michael's one being the 

 disease from which the orange trees suffered and the other the unremunerative prices offered by the 

 English markets for St. Michael's fruit. The disease is known locally by the name of Lagrima which 

 signifies a " tear" because an exudation of resin in the form of tears takes place on the trunk and 

 branches which is followed by the cracking drying up and peeling off of the bark and eventually the 

 attacked limb dies and has to be cut off. 



To stop the flow of resin the bark of the affected part is bruised but the disease very often shifts 

 its locality till the tree dies of exhaustion. Latterly the smaller branches and twigs have been affected 

 and the fruit while still green falls off in considerable quantities. The cause of the disease is not known 

 and no remedy or method of treatment has been discovered for its cure. I have seen orange gatdena 

 well looked after, the land well manured and dug, the trees pruned and cleaned and again others left 

 almostin a state of nature, but all having orange trees suffering from the disease. This state of things 

 coupled with the competition of the fruit from Spain and other parts has brought about the almost 



