22 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



if the natives could be induced to believe that a good price would 

 always be paid for kernels, they would no doubt make small planta- 

 tions of oil palms themselves, as some fruit always falls to the ground 

 in the picking, is thus not boiled, and so is suitable for furnishing 

 seed for planting. It is, of course, inadvisable to plant boiled nuts, 

 as many do not germinate, owing to the germ having been destroyed 

 by the boiling of the fruit ; others do, however, as can be seen in the 

 young oil palms sprouting from heaps of uncracked nuts which the 

 natives leave near the villages. 



