“At the end of a year and a half the plant affords its first crop, and from this period to the age of forty years or more it continues to yield a supply. Instances are cited of _Coca_ plantations which have existed for nearly a century, and which still produce. Nevertheless, the greatest abundance of leaves is obtained from plants of from three to six years of age. When the trees run up too much, the produce is less than when they spread; they are therefore pruned in some cases to favour an increase in breadth, which, however, is never considerable, as the form of the shrub is irregular. The average height of the wild plant appears to be about 2 mètres, but in cultivation it is generally allowed to attain but 1 mètre [39 inches]. “The first gathering which takes place in a Coca plantation is at the expense of only the lower leaves of the shrubs, and it is therefore called _quita calzon_.[14] The leaves of which this gathering consists are larger and more coriaceous than those of subsequent collections, and also have less flavour. They are mostly consumed on the spot. All the other gatherings go by the name of _mitas_, and take place three times, or exceptionally, four times per annum. The most abundant harvest is that occurring in March—that is, immediately after the rains; this is the _mita de marzo_. The most scanty is that which takes place at the end of June or beginning of July, and which is called _mita de San Juan_. The third, named _mita de Santos_, is made in October or November. [Footnote 14: From _quitar_, to take away, and _calzon_, pantaloon.] “The watering of the Coca plantations greatly increases their productiveness. Forty days are then sufficient, I have been told, for naked shrubs to become covered with new leaves; but these leaves are not equal in their properties to those produced without irrigation; their colour also is less deep, and they frequently blacken in drying. Artificial watering is needful, moreover, only during the dry season, and the cultivators who have the means of employing it realise nearly always four, and sometimes even five, crops in the year. This is particularly the case in the districts of Irupana, where there are facilities for obtaining water that do not exist elsewhere.