BRANCH OF COCA. NATURAL SIZE.
Sent by Monseigneur de Mereño, Archbishop of San Domingo, to Dr. Bétancès, Paris.
"Dr. Bétancès has succeeded in acclimatizing Coca in the Antilles. At considerable expense and after numerous shipments of seeds and the transportation of plants (this with the greatest difficulty) to Porto Rico and San Domingo, Dr. Bétancès had the pleasure of receiving a fine branch of Coca in full bloom, which was sent to him by Monseigneur Mereño, Archbishop of San Domingo. This twig, which the members of the Society were enabled to examine, excited the most lively curiosity and won the commendation of M. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. It was raised from a plant which had been only eighteen months under cultivation."
"In Porto Rico the plant reaches a greater height than in Peru.
"A box filled with beautiful leaves has also been received by Dr. Bétancès and forwarded to Mr. Mariani. This also came from Monseigneur Mereño.
"It is therefore evident that the plant can be cultivated in the Antilles and that it may become a source of wealth to that country."
Plantations like this would probably thrive in Corsica or Algeria, countries where the temperature at certain points is somewhat analogous to that of the tropics.
It is a fact that this shrub does not attain its complete development except in countries where the mean temperature is from fifteen to eighteen degrees centigrade.
But heat does not suffice; great humidity is also necessary to Coca. Therefore it is met with principally on the sides of hills and at the bottom of wooded valleys which abound on both sides of the Cordillieras. Unfortunately, these regions are rather distant from the coast and they are, furthermore, devoid of easy means of communication; it is above all to this particular cause, the difficulty of transportation, that we must attribute the relatively high price of Coca leaves.