82 COTTON IN BRITISH WEST AFRICA 



It is possible, moreover, that the extension of cotton 

 growing may be restricted by the natives preferring 

 to plant ground nuts, a crop which is well suited to 

 the country and is rapidly increasing in popularity. 



A large increase in the output of cotton has taken 

 place recently, however, and during the first six 

 months of 1916, the British Cotton Growing Associa- 

 tion purchased over 10,000 bales of 400 Ib. each. 



There are no trustworthy figures available for the 

 quantities of cotton exported from the Northern 

 Provinces of Nigeria prior to 1908, but during the 

 years 1908-12, the exports were as follows : 1908, 

 56,986 Ib. ; 1909, 140,080 Ib. ; 1910, 58,688 Ib. ; 

 1911, 92,373 lb -; ! 9i2, 259,280 Ib.; 1913-14, no 

 separate returns for the Northern Provinces available. 



Gold Coast. In some parts of the Gold Coast, as 

 in other regions of West Africa, cotton growing has 

 long been, practised by the natives, who employ the 

 product for the manufacture of cloths for their own 

 use. The cultivation is carried on in a very primitive 

 manner. The cotton is not properly planted, but is 

 usually grown in conjunction with various food crops, 

 such as yams, maize, and cassava. As a rule, the 

 plants are not cut down at the end of each season and, 

 in some cases, they are allowed to remain in the ground 

 for many years. Cotton is picked from the plants as 

 long as it is worth gathering, but the fibre rapidly 

 deteriorates and after the first year is generally of 

 very poor quality. 



Some of the indigenous varieties are of very fair 

 quality, and if carefully cultivated could probably be 

 considerably improved. Several attempts have been 

 made to introduce exotic cottons. An acre of land at 

 Aburi was planted with Egyptian cotton in 1890 

 and gave a satisfactory yield. During the same year 

 an experiment with Egyptian cotton was carried out 

 at Accra and a crop of good quality was produced. 

 From this time onward the native farmers were en- 

 couraged by the Agricultural Department to devote 

 attention to cotton cultivation, and large quantities of 

 American and Egyptian seed were distributed. These 

 efforts, however, did not meet with much success. 



