FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 141 



and other machinery were introduced. It was some- 

 what a case of " making hay while the sun shone." 

 The death of the American War, the consequent 

 return to cheap rates there, of supply and purchase 

 that prevailed before its outbreak, the proportionately 

 low prices offered locally, the devastating cruel raids, 

 in 1868-9 of the Ashantees over the country of the 

 Crepees — the most agricultural people there — and the 

 then blockade of its upper Volta River, stand forth as 

 reasons for the present state of the cotton trade in the 

 Gold Coast Colony. 



West African raw cotton (Gossypium herbaceum T) 

 is imported chiefly, first from the Colony of Lagos,, 

 secondly from the Portuguese Possessions, and thirdly 

 from the Gold Coast Colony, as will be found in the 

 explanatory tables that follow. 



It would appear that the Lagos cotton, the plant oZ 

 which is indigenous, is brownish in colour, rough and; 

 short in style, and therefore does not command the: 

 higher prices. 



Now, on the contrary, the cotton of the Portuguese 

 Possessions, to wit Angola, is white, silky, and of" 

 good length in staple. When properly prepared it 

 is as valuable as American : it is supposed to be 

 naturalized American (Gossypium barbadense). 



Western Africa, especially our Colonies, has 

 become a home for many alien plants : why should 

 not the best cotton be there naturalized, and thus- 

 reduce our demand on foreign markets ? 



