ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 
BULLETIN 
OF 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION, 
N crates cee [1909. 
XVIII—THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE OIL PALM. 
(Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.) 
No. 2, 1909, pp. 33-49), where an attempt has been made to 
systematise the information obtained from various sources. In the 
present article it is proposed to deal with questions relating to the 
habitat, cultivation, yield, &c., of the Palm, the mode of preparation 
of the oil and other kindred matters, 
The information has been derived mainly from the reports 
received from West Africa in reply“to the letter written by the 
Director of Kew to the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies 
in February, 1908 (K.B., No. 2, 1909, pp. 33, 34). 
Several important papers on the Oil Palm, of which a list is 
given, have appeared in foreign periodicals and from them, also, 
extracts have been made. 
The following reports from British West Africa have been sent 
to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and have been forwarded 
by his courtesy to the Director of Kew :— 
(1) The Governor of Southern Nigeria, enclosing reports from 
Mr. P. Hitchens, Provincial Forestry Officer, Eastern 
Province ; from C. A. Birtwistle, Commercial 
Intelligence Officer, and from Mr, N. C. McLeod, 
Acting Conservator of Forests ; (2) The Governor of 
the Gold Coast, enclosing two reports from Mr. 
Evans, Travelling Instructor of Agriculture ; (3) The 
Actine Governor of Sierra Leone (Mr. G. B. Haddon 
Smith); (4) The Governor of the Gambia, with an 
enclosure from Mr. G. H. Sangster, Commissioner of 
the Kommbo and Fogni Province; a (5) the 
Governor of Northern Nigeria, enclosing a brief report 
from Mr. B. E. B. Shaw, Forestry Officer. 
In addition to the information taken from these reports, extracts 
have also been madé from the ‘Notes on the Oil Palm’ by 
Mr. H. N. Thompson, Conservator of Forests, Southern Nigeria, 
(12903—6a.) Wet, 108—471. 1375, 5/09, D&S, 
