224 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



XVI. 



I HAVE alluded to the necessity of reforesting, in 

 parts of West Africa, and I have mentioned the 

 " Casuarina " as a tree likely to answer. I would 

 now add the growth of Eucalypts of Tropical 

 Australia has met at Lagos and in Sierra Leone with 

 a measure of success. They and Melaleucas might 

 with proper care be most advantageously cultivated, 

 under Government control and supervision, for their 

 hygienic properties, as force pumps, to the many 

 swamps at present existing along and within the 

 West African Coast line. 



On the more general introduction and growth of 

 Eucalypts and Melaleucas in West Africa, I will 

 here repeat what I embodied in a Circular I issued 

 from the Gambia in 1885 : — 



The timber denudation and consequent drought 

 and barrenness in some parts of West Africa must 

 engage the attention of any observant person. I 

 ventured to call attention to the subject in a letter 

 addressed to the Lagos Times in January, 1883. 



See what Parkes says in his ' Practical Hygiene ' 



