168 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



overtop all the surrounding growth. In some cases, both at Olokemeji 

 and Mamu, either self-sown or planted Iroko {Chlorophora excelsa) 

 is found growing amongst the mahogany. Owing to the attacks of 

 the coccus on the Iroko hindering its height growth, it has not 

 had as beneficial an effect as might have been expected. Trans- 

 planting self-sown trees from an overshaded locality in the forest, 

 where they usually first appear in a more open locality, has proved on 

 the whole most successful. Again, transplanting self-sown seedlings 

 scarcely one year old from an overshaded locality into one with more 

 light has accelerated the growth of the seedlings, preventing them being 

 killed by the excessive shade, and at much less cost has thus established 

 a small plantation in the Benin forests. 



With the collection and planting of the seeds from the teak-trees 

 originally planted about 1889 in the Ebuttemetta garden, a new 

 area opened in the afforestation of Nigeria. Seedlings developed 

 rapidly, and were found to grow at least 10 if not 18 feet in the first 

 year. Although not always keeping up this promise of exceedingly 

 rapid growth, more especially in height, the teak bids fair to become, 

 as in Burma so in Nigeria, the most valuable of all trees. On the whole 

 it has been by far the most extensively planted tree of any in Nigeria, 

 excepting that in the case of mahogany many more have been planted 

 in the Central Circle. Teak plantations are now found as widely 

 apart as on the banks of the Cross River near Ikom, Inkum, Ndeh 

 and Ikrigon amongst the historic stones, and in the Arboretum at 

 Calabar. Near Ndeh, for over a quarter of a mile the river bank is 

 quite enlivened by the large and showy leaves as well as the tall, thin 

 stem of the teak. To a lesser extent, though appearing more picturesque, 

 is the riverside plantation on the opposite bank just below Abragba. 

 In a district with a rainfall of about 60 inches and a deep sand alluvial 

 soil, the teak so far has proved quite at home in the Cross River dis- 

 tricts of the Eastern Circle. Even amongst the thickly growing grass 

 at Ikrigon they have survived after coming up from seeds sown at 

 stake, and bid fair to become an established tree of that locality. 



Teak has also found a place in the plantation near Mpot and the 

 Oban Reserve. Going over now to the Central Circle, we have Oria, 

 situated near the right bank of the Niger in the Benin province, with 

 its rapidly growing teak plantations. Again choosing a local climate 

 similar to that where teak is found has so far proved it to be a most 

 suitable tree for this locality. Many other trees do not thrive or attain 

 much size near here, so that the teak is all the more valuable for that 

 reason. Near Benin itself, with its heavier rainfall and comparatively 

 approximate to the sea (about 45 miles), it is doubtful if teak will do 

 so well. Even so, growing more slowly, it would prove an additional 

 most valuable tree to those already found growing in the district from 

 which timber has already been obtained. 



