162 
ublished as a supplement to the Government Gazette, Southern 
Nigeria, No. 10, 1908, and from the articles by M. J. Adam in the 
French Colonia! Bulletin for 190s. 
The name of the authority quoted is placed at the end of each 
extract in the following pages. 
the nine questions embodied in the Director’s letter to the 
Colonial Office only two were considered in the previous article. 
to its successful growth; as to the yield, commencement of bearing 
and longevity of the trees; as to the abundance of Oil Palm kernels 
n 
and as to whether there has been any improvement in the mode of 
extracting the oil. 
Some other questions relating to the Oil Palm industry are also 
discussed. 
HaBiTat oF THE OL Pam, 
The Oil Palm is found on the coast of West Africa from the 
Gambia (13° N, lat.) as far south as the neighbourhood of S. Paul 
Dakar and St. Louis. The alm appears to flourish more parti- 
cularly along the northern side of the Gulf of Guinea from Sierra 
Leone to the Cameroons, 
It grows to the greatest advantage in the deep, alluvial, humus- 
covered soil of the forest region which forms a belt of country from 
1-300 kilometres in width from Sierra Leone to the Cameroons. 
successful growth of the Oil Palm. Where the rainfall is below 
50 inches the Palm does not thrive, but it seems to grow equally 
well in places where the rainfall ranges between 70 and 250 inches ; 
it grows best, however, on well-drained land and will not thrive in 
swampy land (McLeod). According to Evans it will thrive in 
almost any soil or situation, but it does not pay to gather the nuts 
from trees which are growing in the semi-open country near the 
coast as the yield of oil is exceedingly small. It succeeds best in 
rich, moist, well-drained land where the rainfall is from 50-70 
mches per annum. 
_ It is widely distributed throughout the Gold Coast, but is found 
mm greatest abundance in the Eastern and Central Province. 
n Southern Nigeria about three-fourths 
afford suitable conditions of moisture &e. f. 
Oil Palm. i 
is always moisture in the soil, an 
oe there can be but little moisture in the dry season ” (Haddon 
mi 
Uy bom gg, growing in moist and 
dry situations in Sierra Leone. “Tp the Gambia the Palm trees are 
