CROPS AND IMPLEMENTS 3 



river are approached. The low countries are subject 

 to flood in the rainy season, and are only favourable 

 for rice cultivation. 



Chief Crops. The country is rather sparsely populated, 

 but, on the whole, the people are fair cultivators and 

 prepare their lands in a careful manner. Practically the 

 only crop grown for export is the groundnut, monkey- 

 nut, or earth-pea (Arachis hypogcea), which forms by far 

 the most important article of cultivation. Alternating 

 this with the staple food-crops of the country, namely, 

 guinea-corn, maize, millet, and cassava, a fairly useful 

 form of rotation is obtained. 



Implements. Cultivation among the Mandingoes and 

 Joloffs is performed by means of a large wooden-bladed, 

 iron-shod hoe, with which the loose earth ridges are 

 thrown up. A small iron hoe is used for keeping down 

 weeds and clearing. In the Jolah country a hand- 

 plough is employed, consisting of a flat blade attached 

 to a pole, and pushed in front of the operator, so as to 

 throw up a shallow ridge. This is shown in the picture 

 which represents a native with the implement at 

 Bullelai (Fig. 1). 



Ploughing. Cattle are plentiful, even to the extent of 

 there being an insufficiency of fodder for them in the dry 

 season in some localities. They are chiefly kept for the 

 purpose of displaying the wealth of their owners, and are 

 not employed for any kind of farm work. Notwith- 

 standing the shortage of manual labour and the successful 

 demonstrations made by the Government, through the 

 agency of the Roman Catholic Fathers at the Abuko 

 Agricultural School, to prove the value of substituting 

 animal draught for manual labour in tilling the land, the 

 prejudice on the part of the natives against the use of 

 their cattle for ploughing or cartage has not been over- 

 come. A photograph is given showing a native with a 

 Canary Island plough drawn by locally-trained bullocks 

 (Fig. 2). Owing to the failure attending the efforts to 

 introduce ploughing and cattle breeding at Abuko, where, 

 for the latter purpose, some Ayrshire bulls were provided, 

 the Government withdrew the provisional subsidy in 

 1911. 



Land Tenure. Land ownership is hereditary and 

 descends from father to son among the Mandingoes and 



