190 
The  Cultivation  of  Coca. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharrru 
I      April,  1886. 
The  rainy  season  begins  in  October,  and  continues  until  May  or 
June.  During  this  time  the  rains  are  copious  and  almost  constant. 
Daring  the  succeeding  two  months  there  is  scarcely  a  drop  of  rain, 
and  during  the  next  two  there  are  only  occasional  showers. 
Such  are  the  conditions  under  which  the  coca  grows  in  this  section. 
When  we  come  now  to  consider  the  methods  of  cultivation  here 
adopted,  we  mast  be  cautious  about  accepting  them  as  the  best,  merely 
because  they  are  generally  followed  here.  It  is  to  be  remembered 
that  the  Bolivian  system  of  agriculture  has  not  received  the  attention 
that  it  should  have  had,  and  that  it  is  very  probable  that  reforms 
might  be  introduced  in  present  methods. 
Nor  is  it  proper  to  proceed  concerning  coca-culture  without  a  few 
words  concerning  what  is  meant  by  the  "best  quality"  of  coca-leaves. 
To  a  manufacturing  chemist  the  best  quality  would  mean  the  quality 
that  would  yield  the  largest  percentage  of  crystallizable  cocaine,  ob- 
tainable in  the  easiest  manner,  while  the  same  coca  might  be  con- 
sidered for  domestic  consumption  as  representing  one  of  the  lower 
grades.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  amount  of  cocaine  forms  no 
element  in  the  Indian's  estimate  of  the  quality  of  coca,  no  more  than 
the  percentage  of  nicotine  establishes  the  quality  of  a  particular  grade 
of  tobacco.  Coca-leaves  are  classed  in  general  by  the  Indians  as 
"hajas  dulces"  (sweet  leaves)  and  "hajas  amargas"  (bitter  leaves). 
The  former  are  made  sweet  by  the  abundance  of  alkaloids  other  than 
cocaine.  While  it  is  true  that  a  greater  abundance  of  those  alkaloids 
is  usually  accompanied  by  a  larger  percentage  of  cocaine  also,  yet  the 
variation  in  the  amount  of  the  latter  is  not  so  great  as  in  the  former ; 
so  that  while  in  the  sweet  leaves  the  bitter  taste  of  the  cocaine  is 
masked  by  the  presence  of  the  other  alkaloids,  in  the  bitter  leaves  its 
flavor  is  the  predominant  one.  The  presence,  then,  of  these  sweet 
alkaloids,  as  we  may  call  them,  translating  the  simple  and  expressive 
term  of  the  Indians,  determines  the  domestic  value  of  the  coca,  and 
all  that  is  known  of  the  best  methods  of  cultivation  is  based  on  the 
production  of  the  highest  percentage  of  these  alkaloids.  Experience 
may  determine  that  for  manufacturing  purposes  a  very  different  line 
of  principles  of  culture  should  be  followed. 
I  have  made  a  large  number  of  assays  tending  towards  elevations, 
soils,  exposures,  seasons,  ages  of  plants,  and  of  leaves,  different  varieties, 
wild  and  domestic,  different  parts  of  the  plant,  and  various  modes  of 
drying  and  packing.    The  results  will  be  embodied  in  a  future  mono- 
