NIGERIA 169 



Again, in the Western Circle the very largest teak plantations are 

 found : even from the railway carriage window you get an impression 

 of the extent of these just before reaching the Eruwa Road station, 

 and again just after leaving Olokemeji station, between 85 and 90 

 miles from Lagos respectively. Despite one or two fires, trees at 

 Eruwa Road show quite average growth for the Southern Provinces of 

 Nigeria. In seven years the trees had reached a girth of over 12 inches 

 and a height of over 25 feet. Happily, they were not fruiting so profusely 

 as at Olokemeji. This plantation is all the more interesting in that 

 it was made primarily for the use of the Railway Administration to 

 supply teak timber for sleepers and constructional work. 



On closer inspection it will be seen that the Olokemeji plantations 

 nearest the railway comprise six " falls," " stands," or " compart- 

 ments " of 25 acres each, adjoining each other. Although the trees 

 everywhere have not grown as well as on the better soil, these are far 

 and away the largest plantations of any in Nigeria. Each " stand " 

 is separated from the next by a broad ride and top and bottom by 

 a broad road. Near by these are another two compartments of 

 25 acres each, though neither of these is entirely filled with teak, as 

 also the first one in the other series. Nearer the bungalows there are 

 the first made plantations of 1908, thriving, yet growing on the poor 

 laterite soil. These stretch away nearly half a mile into the open 

 deciduous forests at the back. What a strange contrast is presented 

 in the dense, close growth of the teak plantation, with its soil covering 

 of decaying and large brown leaves of the teak, compared to the stunted 

 growth of Red Ironwood, small Bauhinia, some Paradaniellas and 

 a few gnarled oak-like Shea Butter Trees ! Such teak plantations 

 open up a long vista of future developments in the conversion of the 

 poor dry-zone vegetation into forests of valuable trees, both with and 

 without extensive permanent improvements of the soil and subsoil. 

 Even the large raceme-like clusters of the flowers, almost covering the 

 whole of the teak trees in April and May, are not to be despised for 

 improving the looks of a grassj'' lawn near a bungalow. A glimpse 

 through the tall Terminalias on both sides of the Ogun, just before 

 the curve is reached at Olokemeji village, reveals yet another teak 

 plantation on the lower slopes of the easternmost of the two hills. 

 Olokemeji means the " man of, or owner of, two hills " {oke means a 

 hill, and meji means two, in Yoruba). Again, still further along in the 

 valley of the stream, near the station, are some other older teak 

 plantations from the years 1910, 1911. Here there is yet a different 

 contrast. The broad, wide masses of the teak plantation are still on 

 one side rather overshadowed towards the hillside by the giants of 

 the mixed deciduous forests, such as the cotton-tree {Eriodendron 

 Orientale) and Sterculia cordifoUa and ebony {Diospyros mespiliformis). 

 However, later on the teak, growing on better soil than is found in 



