121 
VIIL.—THE WEST AFRICAN OIL PALM. 
(Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.) 
Reference has already been made in the Bulletin to the ques- 
tions of the breeding of improved varieties of the Oi Im i 
connection with the discovery of thin-shelled and practically 
shell-less forms of this palm, and it has been pointed out that 
experiments were needed to test whether the different forms of 
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both hard- and soft-shelled nuts in the same bunches. It was 
further noted that the bunches of nuts yielded by this variety 
were much smaller than those of any other forms. 
The following particulars are given of the yield in bunches of 
fruit from the palms planted in 1912 :— 
Abetumtum :—9 plants, 11 bunches, average weight 7 lbs. 
epa :— 17 plants, 19 bunches, average weight 5 Ibs. 
Abobobe:— 19 plants, 19 bunches, average weight 3% lbs. 
All the bunches were very small in size. : 
Before any answer as to the true breeding of the different 
varieties can be given, it is clear that more careful experiments 
must be devised. é 
In the first place hand-pollination of a variety with pollen 
from a plant of the same variety or from the male inflorescence 
of the same tree must be undertaken. No reliance can be placed 
on seed promiscously collected from any particular tree since 
cross-fertilization of trees of different type is constantly going on 
and the resultant offspring from such crossed trees will exhibit 
i is a 
in the Report of the ‘‘ Committee on Edible and Oil-Producing 
Nuts and Seeds,’’ 1916. Cd. 82-47. 
CULTIVATION. ; 
The oil palm in West Africa is, as a rule, subjected to no 
special cultivation and it is therefore all the more interesting to 
learn from the Gold Coast Report that palms subjected to proper 
cultural conditions have responded by a marked increase in the 
P : : 
has been cleaned, the palms being thinned to a reasonable dis- 
tance apart. In aidition , there are odd palm trees scattered about 
