83 



"fruited freely, and 27860.5 nuts were harvested up to the end of 

 "' the year." 



These facts, and many others which could be adduced, if space 

 permitted, dispose of the pessimistic outlook of the authors of 

 '• Les Noix de Kola et les Kolatiers " as regards the prospects of 

 the Cola tree, as a remunerative, though perhaps, for the present 

 restricted industry. That the trees yield profitably before their 

 fifteenth year is quite satisfactorily established. 



That many trees never bear fruit, or very late is not surpris- 

 ing, given the localities in which the authors have mostly seen such 

 trees i.e. in dense, overcrowded forest thickets. Planters would 

 find a way to improve upon such conditions, and to provide their 

 trees with" the conditions of location, of soil and moisture, supple- 

 mented, if necessary, with manures, required for the well-being of 

 so valuable a crop. 



We have some indications of what these conditions should be, 

 from the accounts given us by many competent observers. 



Mr. Elliott, Forest Officer, Xortheni Nigeria, says of the nuts 

 found in the Province of Xupe, Northern Nigeria, " this nut is m 

 "great demand throughout the whole of North Africa, and it 

 " fetches locallv almost double the price of the kind with i or 5 

 " cotyledons. Tlie trees grow in sheltered valleys at an elevation of 

 " from 450 to 550 feet above the sea. The soil is a deep, black, 

 " sandy loam and is kept in a continuous state of moisture l)y the 

 "streams that are found in each valley." (Kew Bulletin, 1906, 

 No. 4). 



That the Cola tree is a grateful tree under kindly treatment 

 is also evidenced by the following statement of Mr. Dawodu m his 

 report of his tour "througli the Lagos hinterland, at the request of 

 the Government of Lagos in 1898. 



" The Kola tree abounds in these parts. The trees were all in 

 ~" a most flourishing coiulition, always bearing heavy and abundant 

 "cro])s. Lideed, the Ekiti Country is famed for its Kola trees 

 " and the cultivation of them is brought to great perfection by the 

 " natives." 



In passing, it will be noticed that in Mr. Elliot's report just 

 quoted, the polycotyledonous nuts are only worth about half the 

 price of those with" only two cotyledons. As stated at the begm- 

 ning of this paper, the species C. niiida is the one with two coty- 

 ledons, and ('. acuminata is the species with the plural cotyledons. 

 Thus, the statement that C. niiida is the species that supplies the 

 best nuts is here confirmed. A further confirmation of this fact is 

 found in the Peport on the Agricultural Department for the year 

 1914, issued by the Government of the Gold Coast in which it is 

 stated that : 



" Only one European Company has given any attention to 

 "this product (Cola) and their plantations are now in bearing. 

 " No ])articulars are available of the past year's work, but it is 

 " understood that a proportion of their crop is the white nut,^ which 

 "fetches a relatively higher price than the ordinary Colas." 



