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to flower usually in their fourth or fifth year, and sometimes in thie 
third, At first male inflorescences only are developed, and it is not 
until one or two years afterwards that female flowers appear. In 
a few exceptional cases both male and female flowers are found in 
the same inflorescence (Adam, /.c., p. 384 and figs. 8 and 9). 
The fruits take from two to six months to mature, according to 
the season of the year at which the inflorescences are formed. In 
the Gold Coast, according to Evans, the young plants commence to 
yield their first crop of fruits when about five years old when 
grown in the rich alluvial lands, but not until the sixth or seventh 
year in the hilly country, and gradually to increase their yield for 
60-80 years. Gruner, referrmg to the Oil Palm in Togoland, 
mentions the uncertainty which prevails as to the time of yield. 
According to some informants the palms commence bearing in their 
sixth year, and bear only two or three bunches of fruit, the fruits 
being small, During the next five years the number of bunches 
mcreases from 4-6 per year, and in the twelfth year the palm 
yields‘its full harvest. Freyburger, quoted by Gruner, states that 
the bunches of fruit do not become more numerous as the palm 
the most prolific period—has also 1-6 very large bunches. with well 
developed fruits. 
_Thompson gives the following particulars as to the growth and 
yield of the Oil Palm for the Western Province of Southern 
Nigeria, in Egba land and around Agege :— 
“On rich newly cleared forest soil, the Oil Palm is said to 
bear its first bunches of nuts when it is seven to eight years 
old. The first bunches are small, about the size of a man’s 
fist, and from eight to thirty of them are formed on the plant 
amually. As the latter gets older, the bunches increase in size, 
and are reduced in number to from four to twelve. en the 
palm is fully grown, that is at about the age of from eight to ten 
years, the bunches of nuts reach their maximum size, and are 
developed at the rate of from two to twelve per tree per annum. 
his rate of yield is continued afterwards practically throughout 
the natural life of the palm. ‘ | 
“The limits between which the yield varies in the case of full- 
grown trees are given below :— 
“(a) Full-grown trees yield from about two to twelve bunches 
of nuts annually, each bunch weighing from 20 to 56 lbs., 
according to size. 
-“(6) An average-sized bunch contains at least 200 nuts, and the 
weight of the latter varies from 7 to 21 Ibs. 
“(c) The annual yield in oil of a tree is at least 74 Ibs. in weight. 
“(d) The yield of kernel oil is generally 25 per cent. of the nut 
oil, or one quarter of a gallon per tree per annum 
(Thompson). 
McLeod (Southern Nigeria) mentions fifteen years as the age at 
which the Oil Palm reaches its maximum yield, and states.that this 
18 maintained up to 150 years of age. According to Thompson an 
