231 
Bananas and Plantains are the principal crop and the main 
outlet was by water from the Tiko wharf. It was from 
the pier, made of cast iron piles, 115 metres long, that the 
8.8. ‘‘ Moewe ” used to set out loaded with Bananas for Hamburg. 
Here also there is a Banana-drying shed and a saw mill. 
At Missellele, which I was unable to visit, Coffee is one of 
the principal crops. 
The Molyko concession on the S. slopes of the mountain is 
some 42,000 acres in extent, about 3000 being under cultivation, 
Its elevation is from 1500-1800 it. and Cocoa is the principal 
crop. 
Debundschaw and Bibundi lie on the W. slopes of the mountain 
and are mainly at low elevations. Debundscha is noted for its 
excessive rainfall, as much as from 550-600 inches in the year 
having been recorded. Bibundi, lying beyond to the North, 
also enjoys a heavy rainfall. Here a rotary Cocoa dryer had 
been installed and the saw mills and plantation offices generally 
were on an elaborate scale. An avenue of Avocado pears some 
3 miles long had also been made through the plantation, which 
is mainly Cocoa, and the trees laden with ripe fruits were in 
excellent condition. 
From this brief account of these extensive plantations it 
will be seen that they are likely to provide pathological and 
other problems needing. scientific investigation and research, far 
more than is the case in Nigeria proper, where plantations are 
on a relatively small scale. 
It is to be hoped that with the restoration of the Victoria 
Gardens, it may be found possible to establish there a department 
of plant pathology, so that expert scientific advice will be avail- 
able and investigations may be undertaken upon the various 
diseases from which large plantations are liable to suffer, and 
combative remedies may be suggested. , 
The necessary laboratories, where work of this kind can be 
carried out, are already in existence, and the past history of 
disease in large plantations may be cited in evidence of the 
urgent need of scientific investigation and control under artificial 
plantation conditions. Not only is there the constant menace of 
disease when large areas in the Tropics are devoted to the culti- 
vation of one particular economic product such as Cacao, Hevea 
rubber, Coffee, &c., but there are other fields of researéh which 
it is most desirable to explore. 
Of paramount importance, as has recently been demonstrated 
in Malaya, is the finding of the most economically useful varieties 
for cultivation. This may be done either by selection or by 
breeding or by a combination of both methods, and entails 
accurate scientific knowledge and usually much patient research. 
On work of this kind, however, depends very largely the com- 
mercial success of some particular economic product grown 
either as a crop or under plantation conditions, and the useful 
work that has been done in the Northern Provinces, Nigeria, in 
