PALM OIL AND KERNELS. 27 



between the palms, but, proving more lucrative, have 

 become the main crop. 



In French Dahomey every encouragement is being 

 given by the Government to the oil palm industry among 

 the natives, and the result has been to make this one of 

 the most flourishing of the African colonies which France 

 possesses on that continent. 



In Nigeria, the British Government has encouraged 

 more careful planting of palms, with the result that oil from 

 these districts fetches the best price. In Liberia, a British 

 syndicate is interesting itself to produce good results . 



On a plantation, the distance between palms should 

 be not less than 25 feet, and catch-crops should not be 

 grown after the tenth year. 



Permanent crops such as cocoa and rubber are hardly 

 suitable for interplanting with the oil palm unless the 

 palm trees are at least 45 feet apart, when funtumia 

 elastica and cocoa may be grown satisfactorily. A rota- 

 tion of crops may be carried out where the palm trees 

 are 25 feet apart with the following products : Maize, 

 manihot (cassava), ginger, ground nuts, tobacco, chillies, 

 yams, native beans, and pine-apples. But before planting 

 a large area of any one product the demand of local and 

 European markets should be carefully studied. It is 

 worthy of note, too, that local markets in West Africa 

 are to-day worth attention, good prices being often 

 realised for maize, cassava, ginger, native beans, and 

 yams. The returns from the sale of the catch-crop pro- 

 duce should help to pay for the necessary attention 

 required by the permanent crops until they come into 

 bearing, as well as to meet other working expenses of 

 the estate. 



