6 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



The main principles governing the distribution of plant life, 

 (hough well known to botanists and professional foresters, are 

 not so universally appreciated by the general public. 



With a view to placing 1 before the latter a concise account of 

 the reactions of vegetation in the environment, and thus 

 enabling them to intelligently follow the principles on which 

 forest conservancy is based, I have ventured to introduce subjects 

 that may otherwise be considered foreign to a report of this 

 character. If, however, by doing this I can induce even a few 

 of the Political Officers in charge of our West African Colonies 

 and Protectorates to take some interest in forest protection, and 

 realise the very important transformations in climate and type 

 of vegetation that are liable to follow the wholesale destruction 

 of the forests, then my action will be fully justified. 



In its initial stages, at all events, forest conservancy must 

 to a large extent depend, as far as its successful application goes, 

 on the attitude displayed towards it by the Political Officers. 



The period of four months, for which my services were 

 originally lent, having proved insufficient for completing the 

 examination of the forests, I was permitted to extend it to six 

 months ; this enabled me to visit some of the wooded area's of 

 the eastern portions of the Colony and Ashanti; but, even with 

 this extension, I am afraid that I have left unvisited many 

 important forests. To thoroughly explore the whole country 

 would require two or three years' continuous work of that kind. 



W'ith the limited time at my disposal it was a matter of some 

 difficulty to decide on the best routes to take, but I was eventu- 

 ally influenced in my choice by the consideration that it was more 

 important to discover what forests were left intact, and to explore 

 wooded areas about which but little was known, than to occupy 

 the bulk of my time with forests that have already been pretty 

 well exploited. The latter, however, were not neglected ; during 

 my wanderings through the forests of the lower Ankrobra and 

 Tano River basins, and those along the Sekondi-Kumasi Rail- 

 way, where exploitation is in full swing. I saw enough of the 

 methods employed there of felling and extracting the timber to 

 .enable me to form a pretty good estimate of the character of 

 the work and the extent to which the wood-producing capital 

 has been removed. 



I take this opportunity of thanking all those officials of the 

 Gold Coast and Ashanti, to whom I am indebted for much 

 kindness and assistance in connection with my duties, more 

 especially to Major C. H. Armitage, D.S.O., the Acting Chief 

 Commissioner of Ashanti ; Mr. F. G. Crowther, the Acting Secre- 

 tary for Native Affairs; the Acting General Manager of the 

 Gold Coast Railway; Mr. A. J. Philbrick, the Provincial Com- 

 missioner of the Western Province of the Colony; Captain 

 G. W. C. Soden, Provincial Commissioner, Ashanti; to Mr. K. 

 Burbridge, Curator, the latter of whom accompanied me through- 

 out my tours; and to the Agricultural Department, generally, 

 of the Gold Coast. I have also received much help and useful 

 information from Mr. G. A. Stockfeld, General Manager of the 



