194 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



floating streams and railways to which exploitation can extend. 

 Again, the proportion of one mahogany and one cedar tree to 

 every five acres may be accepted as a safe figure to go on. It is 

 in all probability rather less than the actual .proportion found in 

 the forests. Taking the railways first, the area available for ex- 

 ploitation with human labour as the hauling power is as 

 follows :- 



Distance from Sekondi to Kumasi =168 miles. 

 Tarkwa to Prestea = 25 



Total = 193 miles. 

 Consequently exploitable area = 193 x 6 square miles 



= 1,158 square miles. 

 Deduct 25% for clearings, farms, &c. == 289 ,, 



Total - 869 



This area at the rate of one mahogany tree for every five acres, 

 or 128 trees to the square mile, will contain 128 x 869 = 111,232 

 mahogany trees. And as the same number of cedar trees per 

 square mile may also be assumed to exist, the total numbor of 

 mahoganies and cedars available for felling will be twice the 

 number given for mahogany, or 222,464 trees. Deduct from this 

 25 per cent, of the trees to provide for unsound, crooked, or other- 

 wise defective trees, and we are left with a balance of 222,464 - 

 55, 616 or 166, 848 trees. 



Now assuming that it takes thirty years for all the trees now 

 between 10 and 12 feet in girth to reach the latter size, then the 

 number of trees (12 feet and over in girth) that should be felled 

 each year amounts to M-- trees, or 5,561 trees, which, on the 

 assumption that one tree yields three logs, amounts to an annual 

 output of 16,683 logs. 



Similarly the timber from the basins of the Tano, Ankobra, and 

 Pra Rivers may be estimated as follows : 



Exploitable area on Tano and its larger feeders 



-- 900 square miles. 

 That on the Ankobra =300 



That on the Offin River = 500 ,, 



That on the main Pra River = 600 



Total : 2,300 ,, 



And the number of mahogany and cedar trees on this area may 

 be computed at 2,300 x 128 x 2 trees = 588,800 trees. Deducting 

 25 per cent, for defective trees, the number left for felling 

 amounts to 441,600 trees. Hence, the annual output will equal 

 J-jJ;.;5.iu frees =< 14,720 trees or 44,160 logs. 



Therefore, the total output from both railways and streams 

 should amount to (10,083 + 44,160) logs = 60,843 logs. The 

 calculation of the output from the streams, however, is based on 

 the assumption that the channels of the Tano and Pra Rivers are 



