NIGERIA 171 



sample sections have been cut from one or two of these trees and 

 reported on most favourably by the Railway Administration. Similar 

 samples have been sent to the Imperial Institute for exhibition purposes. 

 In a short time the first thinnings of the plantations will take place, and 

 it will be possible to see for what purpose they are most suitable. At 

 any rate, it is a termite-proof wood, and despite the fact that the white 

 ants often attack the growing tree, they usually eat only the outer 

 bark, leaving the tree quite intact and alive. 



In all, about 300 acres have been planted with teak, and even at 

 the low valuation of the cost of making them they are worth at least 

 £45,000. In this case a nominal value of only 3s. per cubic foot is 

 assumed. As has proved the case in Burma, probably on the best soils 

 only a period of eighty years will have to elapse before the final filling 

 of the trees is made on the better classes of soil, and one of a hundred 

 on the poorer soils. At approximately regular intervals of every ten 

 years after the first ten or fifteen have elapsed from the date of the 

 making of the plantation, thinnings are made. With each succeeding 

 period the trees cut out are of larger size, and thus of increasing value 

 with each decade. These returns soon more than cover the cost of 

 planting, and assume greater and greater proportion towards the 

 end of the rotation. 



Another tree with which a considerable amount of work has been 

 done is the Iroko [Chlorophora excelsa). Here, despite many disap- 

 pointing results, care and attention shoAv that this tree is capable of 

 reproducing itself in a comparatively short period. Beyond many 

 specimens in the Arboretum at Olokemeji, a whole plantation was 

 made by the Railway between that place and Eruwa Road. Seedlings 

 come up in large numbers from fresh seed sown in a nursery. In 

 fact, sometimes, as at Olokemeji, they have appeared thicker than grass. 

 Subsequently, when transplanted, many thousands died, the roots 

 being apparently unable to quickly adjust themselves to new surround- 

 ings and grow again before the leaves have transpired nearly all the 

 moisture from the plant, and thus quite withered and dried it up. 

 However, those which have survived show fair growth, even on poor 

 laterite soil. This soil, of course, is quite unsuited, and certainly one 

 of the poorest mediums in which to plant Iroko. 



Natural regeneration or the sowing of seeds at stake seems to be 

 the best method, as we have in nearly all the Reserves large numbers 

 of young Iroko seedlings of all ages and sizes coming up. In that 

 connection one of the most instructive Forest Reserves is that of 

 Ikrigon, where the Iroko (Chlorophora excelsa) is the most prevalent 

 tree. Here, where most of the land has been farmed at one time or 

 another and where the rainfall on the whole is sufficient to induce a 

 good forest growth, the Iroko has tended to increase in numbers all 

 through this part of the country. It may also be said, of course, that 



