The Republican journal., 1903-10-01
N IMPORTANT INDUSTRY
=, SOUTH AMERICA. CULTIVATION
M THE PLANT FROM WHICH CO.
rAINE is EXTRACTED. STRANGE
EFFECT OF CHEWING ITS LEAVES.

las PAS, BOLIVIA, August 20, 1908.
,vsI since Cervantes wrote his charm
., tale of Don QuiXote de la Mancha
nads of tired lips have echoed San
4o lanza's exclamation: God bless
.4 man who first invented sleep; and
. ater years with how much greater
.,tor have suffering souls blessed that
.tftlctor of mankind who discovered
. I,e of cocaine as a means of put
.r tortured nerves to sleep in surgical
...tlons and other illsto which flesh
-ir.
.Nr principal object in making the
Dus trip over seven successive spurs
ne Andean range into tropical Bo-
vas to investigate the culture of
liant known to science as erythroXy-
.oca. For more than quarter OF
fy Bohvias crop of dried coca
....~ has averaged a tritle over 800
uuds Oh this vast amount fully
... We per cent. is consumed at home
native Indians. About thirty
mt. of the remainder is divided
..Iv between Chill and the Argen-
utpublic. Peru gets ten per cent.
Europe five per cent; and the
ed states none at all. Since aka
u cocaine has lately come into gen
.. use for producing local anaesthesla
irmaud for the coca leaves from
4. it is made has greatly increased,
-i without sensibly affecting the
betS of South America. Soon as
application of cocaine to surgical
.a> uecame common the British gov
tut sent out commission to col
t- the plants and transfer them to
a. and already the plantations of
far off colonies are yielding so
that they furnish plenty of
grs for the German manufacturers
supply the world with most of the
a..ne that is used. 1t should be re-
Muered that the cocoa palm, the
-.s Of which furnish the chocolate
mmerce, and the coca plant from
M cocaine is made, are not related
..Ie another in any way, but belong
terent branches of the vegetable
5l 81. Erychroxylon coca is not
-~ nut small shrub, growing from
1 i've feet high. 1t touriShes best
altitude between three thousand
* thousand feet above the sea, in
cred places where the climate is
4 and moist without excessive heat.
IS country it attains its greatest
tion in the province of 1ungas,
M tie mountain ridges, crossing in
direction, leave deep hollows and
valleys between, giving all va
II climate with the productions
lar to each. Not only is the best
tie world produced in that sec
.ut also the bark from which qui-
us made. vanilla and chocolate
.s. coffee, oranges, figs, bananas,
-~. apples, peaches, pears, sugar
com, wheat and barley, products
. tropic and temperate zones,
..-d from the cooler highlands, the
illsides and the lower villages.
foothills of the Andes that out
ugas and other Bolivian valleys
AID out III terraces, each terrace
ward wide, each well supported
ali OF stones, in which the little
uushes. closely resembling tea
s., are set at regular distances.
eeds are first sown in BEDS and
The plants are few inches high
are transferred to the terraces.
uush yields three generous crops
-lyes in year, and sometimes foar
-.- the conditions of soil and climate
nrculiarly favorable. No fertilizers
sed, but great care is taken that
asses or other groWthS are allowed
,...ng up with the coca. Each crop
ed a mita. The first, known as
MARIO mita' March crop, is gen.
picked in January; the second,
~t Johns mita," is gathered in
Hl and the third. or CAN Saints
ILL.,. in October. The harvest time,
0Never, is by no means uniform, de-
,44ng greatly on the weather and the
4oult of rain. The crop is gathered
dian women, who pick it leaf by
4f squatting upon the ground in front
# push. 1t is slow work, because the
caves must not be broken or the
--.a fibre torn; and it is believed
! the apex of the plant is touched
te picker, or if any animal brushes
s4 st it, all the leaves will instantly
yHtsr.
Lowing the women come men with
''-e sacks, who collect the gathered
-a9es and carry them to the cachi, or
pua- yard, to be dried. The cachi is
cysed by wall, and paved with fiat
'les that are kept perfectly clean.
morning sun shining on these
ss, heats them so that when the
-Ff~s are spread smoothly over the
iaee they become thoroughly dry In
irN hours. Then they are re-collec-
-L more carefully than ever, having
become somewhat brittle: and
Iled to the press, the latter being