OIL PALM 19 



instruction was to be made. Scholarships and some 

 official control were provided for by the terms of the trust, 

 but the project was never developed, and the buildings 

 were not even completed. 



Principal Crops. The most important food crop is rice, 

 but two varieties of maize are also cultivated for local 

 consumption ; one of these is quick maturing, and 

 is probably identical with the white variety which is 

 exported from Lagos, from which country it is said to 

 have been introduced into Sierra Leone. The other kind 

 is of slower growth, and bears a yellow grain. Yams, 

 sweet potatoes, and cassava are grown, especially where 

 there is a heavy rainfall. 



Forest Products. Besides the agricultural crops, the 

 forests yield palm oil and kernels, and kola nuts are 

 planted for the much appreciated seed which their pods 

 contain. The latter nut is said to have a stimulating 

 effect, and to allay hunger and thirst when chewed. The 

 nut is in such great demand throughout Northern Africa 

 that a large trade exists between Sierra Leone and the 

 coast countries to the north. 



The more important exported products are accorded 

 the foremost positions in the following account. 



OIL PALM. Localities and the Influence of Position. 



Elms guineensis is found generally throughout the coun- 

 try from the sea-board towards the interior, diminishing 

 in those districts where the climate becomes drier or 

 where rocky and mountainous tracts intervene. In places, 

 owing, doubtless, to the wasteful methods of treatment 

 and the carelessness in burning the " bush " for farms, 

 extensive areas without palms are occasionally met with, 

 even where the soil and climatic conditions are not un- 

 favourable to their growth. In the extreme north, where 

 the rainfall diminishes, the tree is only found in the 

 vicinity of streams. The most suitable situation for 

 growth seems to be one in which the soil is generally 

 rather moist, although swampy, ill-drained land is not 

 favourable. In those parts of the country where a 

 gravelly laterite appears as a surface soil over a deep 

 substratum of syenite, trees may often be met with in 

 considerable numbers, but it is observed that the trunks 

 of such trees do not acquire the same thickness as those 



