GROUNDNUTS 133 



the soil is sandy and light, resemble the kind which is 

 considered the finest in the French Colonies, and is 

 largely cultivated in Senegal. In this the shell is pale 

 straw-coloured. Large exports have been made from 

 Kano since railway facilities were provided. 



Groundnuts are chiefly employed as a terminal* crop 

 in the cultivation adopted by the Nupes and Yorubas, 

 but in the Kano and Zaria Provinces, where land is 

 retained for long periods in cultivation and renovated 

 annually by manure, they are often the first crop 

 grown on opening new land, and are seldom planted 

 later. 



From an interesting article contributed by Mr. Lamb, 

 the Director of Agriculture (Imperial Institute Bulletin, 

 vol. xi. [1913]), entitled " Agriculture in Haussaland," it 

 appears that leguminous crops have recently been 

 introduced more generally in the rotation employed 

 among the Haussa cultivators. The author remarks 

 that the cowpea ( Vigna catjang) is now almost invariably 

 grown with cereals, and that there is such an increase in 

 groundnut cultivation that this has come into great 

 prominence as an exported crop. This condition has 

 been brought about entirely by the establishment of 

 railway transport a result which was foretold in the 

 first edition of this work. 



All the nuts exported at the present time are in a 

 decorticated form, and the reason given for decortication 

 is that there is a large saving in weight in carriage thereby. 

 It is, nevertheless, generally admitted that in an un- 

 decorticated form the nuts are better preserved in transit, 

 and it often happens that the price for undecorticated 

 nuts is higher than for decorticated. It is, how- 

 ever, recognised that if the appearance of the shell is 

 rusty or dirty, it should be removed before shipment, 

 as this condition adversely affects the market value. 

 The demand for undecorticated nuts is for confectionery, 

 and is relatively small as compared with the amount 

 used, chiefly in France, for the expression of oil. The 

 weights of groundnuts exported in 1917 and 1918 were 

 respectively 50,334 and 57,555 tons. 



The Kano nuts appear to be of such a clean type that 

 it might be found more advantageous to ship them in 

 an undecorticated state, but this can be ascertained when 



