COCOA IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES AND COLONY 

 OF NIGERIA. 



By W. H. JOHNSON, F.L.S. 

 Director of Agriculture, Southern Provinces, Nigeria. 



UNTIL the amalgamation of the Nigerias at the begin- 

 ning of 1914, the Southern Provinces and Colony of 

 Nigeria were known as the Colony and Protectorate of 

 Southern Nigeria. This territory is situated on the 

 West Coast of Africa, some 5 north of the Equator, 

 and comprises an area of approximately 80,000 square 

 miles, or about two-thirds that of the United Kingdom. 



Introduction of Cocoa. 



So far as I have been able to ascertain, cocoa was 

 first introduced some thirty-four years ago by means of 

 seeds brought by David Henshaw, a native chief, from 

 Fernando Po. The original trees raised from seeds are 

 still growing vigorously and yielding well at a plantation 

 near Calabar. 



In 1887 the Lagos (Ebute Metta) Botanic Station was 

 established, and from there the distribution of plants and 

 seeds to the Lagos district commenced a few years later. 



The cultivation and distribution of cocoa at the Calabar 

 Botanic Station commenced in 1893. Three years later 

 there were well-established cocoa plantations, owned by 

 the African Association, at Eket, near Calabar, and some 

 of these trees are still in existence. About the same 

 time the Oil Rivers Company started plantations at New 

 Calabar. 



In 1899 the Royal Niger Company formed plantations 

 at Onitsha and Abutshi, on the banks of the Niger. A 

 few of the oldest trees at Onitsha still remain in what is 

 now a Government Agricultural Experiment Station. 



