OIL PALM AND PALM KERNEL INDUSTRY 471 



planted over two-thirds of the ground between the Oil Palm plants 

 and trees, leaving sufficient space for their growth and about equal 

 to the spread of their foliage in each case. After this crop has been 

 gathered in August or September, a crop of Awuje (Yoruba name) 

 beans could be planted, which would again be ready for picking by 

 December. In each case the haulms and dried leaves of the plants, 

 after the crop is gathered, should be burnt in small heaps and the 

 ashes scattered over the soil. At the beginning of the following year 

 the ground could be got ready again and a crop of maize sown in a 

 similar way, covering a half to two-thirds of the ground between the 

 plants. This could be followed by another crop of water-melon, 

 which would act as soil-covering during the rainy season, and 

 again another crop of beans in the autumn. In turn this could 

 be follovv^ed, after similar treatment as before, at the beginning of the 

 third year, by a crop of yams {Dioscorea sp.). Probably owing to the 

 growth of the palms it would only be possible to have one row down 

 the middle of the line between the palms. The species of yam should 

 not be too large, so that the ridges or yam heaps could be heaped up 

 if necessary with a plough and not by hand, as is usually done. The 

 following autumn another crop of beans could be planted, and the 

 next year, if the soil was light and suitable, a crop of ground 

 nuts could be grown as a double row between the Oil Palms. In 

 the following autumn a crop of beans could be grown again. In the 

 following year, the fifth, some of the Oil Palms would be in bearing 

 and yield the first returns. Bananas could then be planted as a 

 single row between the lines of Oil Palms and would bear in the follow- 

 ing year, thus supplementing the second yield of oil and kernels. By 

 these means the whole cost of cultivation should at any rate be covered 

 by the sale of the produce grown, partially to the labourers and other- 

 wise outside, for export, and perhaps even a profit made over and above 

 the cost. In the eleventh or twelfth year the bananas would be prac- 

 tically or entirely covered by the Oil Palms, and thus have to be cut 

 down and to some extent uprooted. Their leaves, however, would 

 form a good mulch for the soil, and at any rate act as an effective soil- 

 covering, thus preventing the growth of weeds. 



It is doubtful whether it would be wise to plant bananas right 

 from the start in even one line, not to speak of two amongst the Oil 

 Palms, owing to the extraordinary amount of moisture taken from 

 the ground by the banana. In some cases, on the better soils, they 

 might be introduced in the third year. Cassava, Manihot utilissima, 

 is rather too exacting a crop to be suitable for planting amongst the 

 Oil Palms. It is very liable to impoverish the soil. Then, too, as 

 far as Nigeria is concerned, it is not a very paying crop, yielding at 

 the most about 14s. per acre after all expenses have been paid. In 

 all the above cases we are taking it for granted that the Oil Palm has 



