181 
“I am a little doubtful as to the suitability of this cultivation 
for tl The gathering, the com- 
paratively lengthy process of extraction of the oil, and the tiring 
nature of these processes will not commend themselves to the 
Malay, especially when he can by the easier task of cocoanut 
cultivation probably get as large a monetary return as by growing 
the oil nut palm. 7. . 
“ The rubber industry is so attractive to the European investor 
and planter that I do not think the trial of an area of African Oil 
Palm would attract him unless he were given special rates for this 
land by Government.” 
In the Agricultural Bulletin of the Malay States for 1907, 
pp. 37-40, Mr. Ridley gives a short account of the Oil Palm, with 
a photograph of a fine example growing in the Botanic Gardens, 
Singapore. He says: “The tree on good ground here certainly 
fruits well, but no record has been kept of the weight of fruit 
produced, Dr, Preuss, when on a visit to the Gardens, expressed 
surprise at its fertility, and was still more surprised that it was not 
cultivated largely in a country so well suite it.” 
Mr, Ridley expresses the view that it would be well worth while 
to cultivate the Oil Palm in the Malay Peninsula, 3 
Though there is a considerable amount of evidence to show that 
the African Oil Palm will flourish in other tropical countries, it is 
not quite clear whether it would yield a good crop of fruit or prove 
a commercial success, and any planting which may be done, either 
in West Africa or in other countries, should in the present state 
of our knowledge be of an experimental character. 
ConcLupInG REMARKS. 
In conclusion, reverting to the questions put forward by the 
Director of Kew, it has been shown that :— 
(a) The existing supplies of Oil Palm kernels are not taken 
full advantage of by traders in Sierra Leone. The 
fruits are allowed to go to waste owing to the sparseness 
of the population, but in the other colonies kernels are 
not brought into market owing to difficulties of 
transport. 
(6) The question of the thin-shelled variety of the Oil Palm 
has been dealt with in the previous paper, and it has 
1 experimental work is 
been pointed out that carefu : 
P lanting with the seeds of 
needed before any extensive f 
a particular variety is undertaken. 
(c) Increased facilities of transport have resulted in an increase 
in the palm oil and kernel trade, and it is shown in 
