GOLD COAST REPORT (>N T FORESTS. 159 



I understand ill at there is a fairly extensive piece of Crown- 

 land between Christianborg Castle and the cantonments. This 

 should, I think, be re-afforested, partly for the purpose of sup- 

 plying Accra with cheap fuel and partly as an object lesson in 

 how unfertile arid wastes can be reclaimed. 



Indications are not wanting- that the climate of the country 

 round Winneba, Pram Pram, and Accra is gradually becoming 

 drier and changing for the worse, and it may possibly become 

 imperative some years hence for Government to arrest this process 

 of desiccation by means of irrigation work and re-afforestation ; 

 hence, timely experiments should be undertaken on a small scale 

 to ascertain the most suitable plants for this purpose, and 

 the best methods of growing' them. The importance of preserving 

 the forests covering the catchment basins of streams flowing 

 through those dry districts should also be kept in mind, especi- 

 ally with a view to the utilisation of their waters for irrigation 

 purposes. 



In conclusion, it is much to be hoped that adequate steps will 

 be taken to secure the protection and proper management of 

 some of the richer portions of the magnificent forests of Ashanti 

 and the Colony, forests the like of which it would be very hard 

 to match anywhere in Africa, and which form a very valuable 

 asset of the country and the Empire. Any sacrifices made to 

 attain this object will be repaid a hundredfold in the future. 

 The revenues derived from timber and rubber will amply suffice 

 to cover the cost of all such undertakings. 



PART III. 



C. CONCLUSION. Brief description of the Climate and 

 J'lii/sical Features of the Gold Coast and Ashanti. Short- 

 Account of the Conditions affecting Plant-growth. -Clarifi- 

 cation of Plant formation*. Types of West African forma- 

 tions and their characteristic Plants. The distribution of 

 the Forests. Exports and Imports of Forest Produce. 

 List of Vernacular Barnes of Plants. 



The Gold Coast with its two administrative divisions or depen- 

 dencies, Ashanti and the Northern Territories, comprises an area 

 of something like -82,000 square miles. It is situated on the coast 

 of Guinea, between the French possession of the Ivory Coast 

 and the German Colony and Protectorate of Togoland, with the 

 frontiers of which its western and eastern boundaries coincide. 

 It has a seaboard extending from o west longitude to 1 east 

 longitude, and is bounded on the north by the llth parallel of 

 north latitude and the French Soudan and Dahomey. The 

 greatest length from north to .south is about 450 miles. It is thus 

 wholly situated within the northern tropic. 



