350 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



on the average about ten times as long as for annual crops. 



In Nigeria work on this subject has been done for the past seven 

 years by two plant breeders at Ibadan (Smith and Toovey 1938); 

 the period is not, however, long enough to produce conclusive 

 results. At Calabar large plantations were established in 1906, 

 and records of their yields through this whole period provide 

 valuable data. Cultural studies are progressing also in Nigeria 

 at the agricultural stations of Umuahia, Benin and Onitsha. At 

 the last-named station plantations have been established with 

 progeny of the best Calabar trees, self- fertilized. They serve as a 

 demonstration and as a centre for the distribution of seedlings to 

 the dense population of the neighbourhood, who rely largely on 

 the export of palm products for their income. The area of culti- 

 vated palms is rapidly expanding and the progress in 1936 shows 

 an increase of 80 per cent, over the area planted between 1928 

 and 1935. (Nigeria, Agriculture, 1936, D.R.) 



The kernels are merely extracted from the nuts and dried for 

 export, but the pericarp is always subjected to some form of press, 

 so that the oil can be collected into drums. Methods of pressing 

 have been studied and small mechanical presses, made in Europe 

 for grapes, have been introduced to Nigeria with considerable 

 success. These presses sell at from -£11 to £17, a price which, 

 though as a rule beyond the means of the individual, can be raised 

 by the small co-operative societies such as it is hoped to establish 

 in the palm-growing areas. These presses extract much more oil 

 from the pericarps than the old methods of treading, but even so, 

 only 80 per cent, of the total oil content is made available. Large 

 presses, which can only be worked on a factory basis, can extract 

 85 per cent, of the total oil; these are now established in many parts 

 of the Belgian Congo, but they are not contemplated in Nigeria, 

 since current policy aims at avoiding, as far as possible, the develop- 

 ment of large-scale industry. The palm-oil factory is more suitable 

 to countries where palms are grown in large plantations, a system 

 which does not exist in Nigeria. In the British Cameroons, how- 

 ever, there are a few plantations. The United Africa Company 

 has acquired one of the former German estates, and has planted 

 some thousands of acres with palms, but the trees are not yet in 

 bearing. 



