‘178 
Palm is. much diminished by tapping for the wine; 50 to 200 litres 
of sap may be drawn annually from a-single:tree:and.a vigorous 
palm may yield a daily supply of four litres for two months.without 
intermission. .Owing to the constriction of ,the stem of.a tapped 
palm the top is liable. to. be blown off in a tornado, 
Serious loss of Oil Palm fruits occurs also in the British: Colonies. 
In Southern Nigeria the reports by Mr. Birtwistle -and ‘Mr. 
Thompson refer to the destruction caused by . tapping -for -palm 
wine, Mr, Evans also reports in the same sense for. the-Gold 
ast. 
“One common cause of lessened production in a portion of the 
Western Province which I have just visited is the collecting -of 
palm wine from the Oil Palm, which renders the tree barren, «or 
practically so. Not-content with bleeding a-standing tree, the 
natives of some districts wantonly cut down Oil Palms in order that 
they more readily obtain a good supply of wine ” (Birtwistle). 
“In the Oka district of. the Onitsha hinterland (Central.Province), 
T have seen the Oil Palm extensively tapped for palm wine and 
the tree is frequently killed by the process ” (Thompson). 
— “Tt is very difficult to give with any degree of accuracy the 
number of palm trees cut down annually :for extracting palm wine, 
but there cannot be many less than 100,000 throughout the’ Colony 
and Ashanti. 
“In some. cases it is beneficial to thin, out the trees, they are 
often too close together, and it can do no harm by cutting out the 
trees in the semi-open country near the coast. Generally speaking, 
I do not think there is much damage done through felling trees for 
palm wine. ; 
‘The method for extracting the palm wine is:— 
“The tree is felled and allowed to lie onthe ground ‘from 3 to 
21 days, sometimes longer, but it is generally acknowledged that it 
gives a very poor yield of palm wine if it is allowed to remain on 
the ground longer than three weeks before tapping: 
“ The crown of the palm is cleared of old leaf stalks, and a small 
hole is made about four inches square. ‘T’he depth depends upon 
the thickness of the palm, the whole of the young leaves, which are 
used-as-palm cabbage,-are cleaned out of this hole, and then another 
small hole is made inside the square hole, and a reed inserted with 
wound to kill all insects that may have got in the wound. 
" The wine continues running from four to six weeks ; after that 
period it 18 only used for medicinal purposes. 
bia hes aeaittity of Mo given by one palm varies considerably, 
vue natives state that the greatest quantity given by one.tree iS 
about 26 gallons, Z : fs : 
“*T have, on several occasions, tried to tap the standing trees, but 
with very poor results, the yield being about one gallon per tree, 
Evans). 
In the third eport on the Agricultural and Forest produets of 
nO. ©, Dudgeon, Inspector -of Agriculture for 
