20 



and permanent profit, In a good soil and with sufficient 

 moisture, the kola tree grows rapidly and stoutly; but five or 

 six years are required for it lo come into bearing, and at ten 

 years old it is giving a full crop, estimated at L20 pounds 

 annually, such a tree giving a return at presenl prices of from 

 l' l to 66 per annum. It may be started from seeds obtained 

 fresh from the tree, and sown in nursery-beds or bamboo pots, 

 the plants to be afterwards set out when they have attained 

 one or two years' growth, or one- and two-year old plants may 

 be obtained from the Public Gardens. The season for ob- 

 taining fresh seeds, it will be remembered, expires with the 

 month of September, so that planters desirous of establishing 

 their own nurseries this season should piocure seeds without 

 loss of time. As regards the habit of the tree, its coming into 

 bearing, the yield of fruit, etc, I may say that my inquiries 

 on these points when addressed to Creole peasants (who almost 

 alone possess practical knowledge regarding the byssi) have 

 so often been answered by comparing it to th^ orange tree 

 that it may not be amiss to accept the orange tree a<* a standard 

 of comparison. English writers, however, have likened the 

 habit of the tree to that of the chestnut. Like the orange 

 tree, it has a habit of continuous flowering when in a climate 

 that is marked by frequent showers, thus prolonging the 

 season of fruiting. In good soils the kola certainly is a 

 fruitful bearer, almost comparable to the orange in this respect, 

 while, from all that is known, it does not appear to be so ex- 

 hausting to the soil as either the coffee shrub or the orange 

 tree. A plantation of kola, therefore, must be held to be of 

 very permanent durability and value. Whilst waiting for the 

 kola tree to come into bearing, the planter will have to make 

 a profit out of the ground by some subsidiary crop, the best 

 being bananas, as these will also serve to shelter the young 

 plants, besides being the most profitable of any catch-crop. 

 Wherever bananas are now occupying the ground, prepara- 

 tions can at once be made for a more permanent crop by 

 planting kola seeds amongst them, for by the time the 

 bananas have begun to fail by reason of the small and un- 

 marketable size of the fruit, the young kola trees will be 

 growing up, and oan be left to hold the ground permanently. 

 In good rich soil the bananas might be planted ten, eleven, or 

 twelve feet apart, with a kola at every second banana, in 

 the direction of the lines; a plot of twenty feet square would 

 then enclose nine bananas with four kola plants at the corn- 

 ers, thus leaving them twenty to twenty four feet apart. In 

 very sheltered situations a variation on this plan might be 

 made by omitting the bananas in the centres of the squares, 

 so as to give the trees more light and air. A gradual 

 thinning out of the bananas would be made as the kolas ac- 



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