February, 1910.] 



Ill 



Drugs and Medicinal Plants. 



in the provinces of Huanueo, Otuco, 

 and Urubamba are beginning; to show 

 signs of exhaustion. This difficulty is 

 increased by the primitive and unecon- 

 omical methods of collecting the leaves 

 indulged in by the coca-gatherers. Under 

 these circumstances the formation of 

 plantations of coca-bushes is now being 

 undertaken in the country, and a brief 

 account of the method of cultivation 

 is given. It is recommended that the 

 land selected for cultivation should have 

 its existing crop cut, and dart's from 

 this piled in heaps and burned. This 

 has the advantage of destroying insect 

 pests. The plants are best raised in 

 nurseries, and for this purpose a, seed- 

 bed on good rich soil should be selected, 

 dug to a depth of about 12 in., and 

 the seeds sown therein at distances of 

 18 feet from each other, The seed should 

 not be deeply buried in the earth, but 

 should be merely lightly covered with 

 a layer of fine soil. Coca-seed does not 

 keep well, and should not be collected 

 for sowing-purposes more than eight 

 before it is required for use. Fresh 

 seed germinates in about fifteen days, 

 and as soon as the embryos appear 

 every care should be taken to keep the 

 seed-bed free from weeds. When the 

 seedlings are 8 to 12 in. high they may 

 be transplanted to their final position, 



and this is usually possible from four 

 to five months after sowing. It is ad- 

 visable to shade the seed-beds, and 

 also the transplanted seedlings, from 

 bright sunshine, and to cover them on 

 cold nights. In the plantation each 

 plant should be allowed a pace ol about 

 40 sq. in. With care plants may also be 

 raised from seed in plantations, and 

 in this case the soil should be well 

 worked over and the seeds put in at 

 a depth of about fifteen times their 

 length, and again lightly covered. Three 

 or four seeds should be placed in each 

 hole, and when the seedlings have 

 reached a height of 4 to 8 in. the 

 strongest should be selected in each case 

 and others pulled up. Seeds are ob- 

 tainable in Peru at the beginning of 

 the rainy season, i.e., November and 

 December — and planting must therefore 

 take place about this period. The plant- 

 ations need little care except weeding, 

 and the collection of leaves may begin 

 wheu the plants are two years old, and 

 may be continued for from ten to twenty 

 years provided the plants a re properly 

 treated and are grown on good soil in 

 suitable situations. A catch-crop of 

 maize or tapioca may be taken between 

 the coca-plants in the first two years, 

 so as to get a return from the plant- 

 ation and to afford the necessary shade. 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS, 



SINGLE PLANTING OF PADDY. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 

 XXXIV., No. 10, October 1, 1909.) 



The Director of Agriculture, Madras, 

 sends us the following : — For some time 

 the Agricul£ural Department has been 

 advising ryots to adopt the system of 

 planting paddy with single seedlings. 

 In the Kistna Delta this is and has 

 always been the ordinary practice, and 

 few better paddy crops are to be seen 

 in the Presidency. Single seedling plant- 

 ing has also gained a footing both in 

 Tinnevelly and in the Taujore Delta, 

 and in both these districts some thou- 

 sands of acres are now planted in this 

 Avay. 



Ten varieties of paddy, which are 

 cultivated in the South of the Presi- 

 dency in the Samba and Pisanum season, 

 were last season grown by planting with 

 single seedlings. With the exception 

 of the Jeeraka Samba (a very fine paddy 

 which makes up for its low yield by 

 the excellence of its grain) all have 

 yielded, better than the local Samba 

 grown by ryots, in the ordinary way, 



but with similar manuring yielding, on 

 an average for nine varieties, half as 

 much again as was obtained by ryots 

 in the locality. This, however, is not 

 the end of single seedling planting. It 

 is found that seed saved from a singly 

 planted crop is much superior to seed 

 saved from a crop planted in bunches 

 of several seedlings. The reason for 

 this is not far to look. When a single 

 plant of paddy is planted, it is given 

 all the space, soil and manure which 

 usually go to 15 to 20 seedlings when 

 planted in bunches ; it can easily be un- 

 derstood that such a plant is more 

 robust and therefore can fill the grain 

 which it forms much better than any 

 of the 15 to 20 plants which have 

 a struggle for existence one against 

 another. Not only is this the case, but 

 the seedlings raised from seed obtained 

 from such a plant tend to reproduce 

 the peculiarities of its parent, and if 

 such a parent plant tillers well, the 

 next generation tends to develop an 

 increased power of tillering and conse- 

 quently to give a greater yield. This 

 has to some extent already been proved 

 at the Palur Agricultural Station. In 



