Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
April,  1886.  / 
The  Cultivation  of  Coca. 
193 
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  of  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  for  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. 
Daring  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  thaa  of  the  vitality  of  the  plant.  Fer- 
tilization 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  divi- 
sion 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  re- 
ceiving the  next  crop  in  little  more  than  one-half  the  time  required 
by  his  neighbors.  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 
13 
