NIGERIA 173 



Ilaro and Mamu Reserve, it is less frequent in the Ikrigon Reserve, 

 In the Sokode it was quite unknown. This last-named place is in 

 Togo, and the plantation is situated in a latitude of over 9° North, 



In the Ilaro and to a lesser extent in the Mamu Reserve it has been 

 remarkable how rapidly the Iroko increases in girth when given plenty 

 of space after being freed from the surrounding forest trees. In these 

 trees, when showing a girth of from 4 to 8 feet, the diameter increment 

 is most rapid. In most cases it averages over 6 inches in girth, and 

 in one case at Ilaro it was as much as 11 inches in one year. This 

 rapid growth in girth is all the more valuable as the trees of this size 

 growing in the high forest have usually nearly completed their height 

 growth. Thus the bole is comparatively long and clean, and the 

 extra growth is put on evenly all the way up, tending to make it more 

 cylindrical than before. 



With the protection of the forests alone as Forest Reserve both 

 in the evergreen and mixed deciduous forest zone, not only are many 

 Iroko-trees preserved and allowed to grow to their full size, but also 

 large numbers of self-sown seedlings come up in the abandoned ground 

 and augment the value of the forests. This is an additional reason why 

 the farming in a Reserve cannot be continued for any length of time. 

 The old farms become more and more filled up with valuable young 

 Iroko-trees, which would be at any rate damaged, if not killed, by 

 the farming operations. 



Even without taking into consideration the number of planted 

 trees, the Forest Department has practically guaranteed certain future 

 quantities of Iroko timber in the number of small trees which have 

 been preserved and the potential value of the little ones grown up since 

 the Reserves were made. Only in one part of the country is this any- 

 thing like the case, and that is in the Ahoada district, where the natives 

 use the Iroko-tree as a boundary mark between the different village 

 lands and also between many farms. To a minor extent this can be 

 seen in the Onitsha district, where the Iroko-trees have been preserved 

 inside the villages, thus giving them the appearance of being the woods 

 of the country while the rest of the land is bare. It is, however, just 

 the reverse. They form the towns and villages amongst the trees, 

 which are thus preserved from the axe and fire of the local farmer. 

 Despite the fact that a fair number of large oversized Irokos have 

 been cut each year in the Olokemeji Reserve, there are many more of 

 the smaller size now coming on than were in existence when the first 

 fellings took place. 



Another tree which has received a considerable amount of atten- 

 tion is the Cigar-box Cedar {Cedrela odorata), and to a lesser extent 

 the Toon {Cedrela Toona). Although both are exotic trees, the former 

 especially shows very quick growth. Despite the unevenness with 

 which it is liable to come up from seed, the rapid growth of the 



