OIL PAL^l AND PALM KERNEL INDUSTRY 469 



the locality said the land was of no use and could not be used for 

 farms (see illustration 102). 



In another case, in Benin, the Oil Palms, which were first sown 

 at stake and subsequently transplanted, bore fruit in the fifth year. 

 Contrary to expectation, the transplanted Oil Palm seedlings developed 

 the secondary and tertiary leaves within a few months after the 

 transplanting had taken place, whereas those sown at stake continued 

 with only two spiky leaves for almost the first year of their growth. 

 As the tree gets older, the number of bunches of fruit borne gets 

 less, though each bunch is fully five times the size of the first fruit- 

 ing bunches of the fifth year. 



In most districts about five bunches of fruit ripen each year, and 

 each bunch bears from 1,200 to 2,000 nuts (from the best trees). It 

 is always noticeable that the palms growing in the open, free from 

 surrounding trees, produce the finest bunches and the greatest number 

 of nuts. On this point of the yield of bunches per annum further 

 investigations are necessary, as it is by no means proved that an 

 average of five bunches per annum is the maximum number for a 

 mature Oil Palm. 



In the Togo Plantations (251 acres), it was noticeable that in the 

 more favourable climate of Atakpame and Bassari the Oil Palm bore 

 in the fifth year, whereas in the drier climate of Jendi the trees first 

 bore fruit in the seventh year. In illustration No. 19 the amount 

 of growth shows clearly from year to year, more especially in 

 the difference in the size of the leaf. The relative shortness of 

 the stem is distinctly seen, showing up when compared with the 

 natural forest-grown Oil Palms in illustration 20. In addition, there 

 is the Agu Plantation in Togo. Thus far very few Oil Palm plantations 

 have been made, those in the Cameroons being the most extensive. 

 However, these are almost too young, or to some extent mixed up 

 with the original forest-grown Oil Palms, for conclusive results to be 

 shown. 



In the Central Circle in 1906 a communal plantation was made 

 at Okokwo, but the natives have not yet found the necessity of 

 extending it. 



Between the Kwa and the Akwayefe Rivers, going along th 

 Akpaboyo Road, the Oil Palms are so evenly distributed that they 

 almost appear to be one great plantation. However, the locality 

 is very favourable to the Oil Palm ; the original forest has been 

 largely cut down and the natives have allowed the Oil Palms 

 to stand wherever they did not hinder farming operations. Owing 

 to the fact that the Oil Palm has spread, and is spreading, in those 

 parts of the Southern Provinces of Nigeria and elsewhere where the 

 rainfall is between 60 and 150 inches per annum, there has thus far, 

 from the native point of view, been no incentive to plant more Oil 



