FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 249 



XVIII. 



Steps then should be persevered in to remove the 

 ignorance of the people as far as possible by putting 

 them in the way of knowing the value of the products 

 of their country, and towards such an end I had begun 

 in 1883 the establishment, at the site of Kokomaiko 

 (Lagos), of a nursery garden for the growth of 

 specimens of present known trees and plants of 

 marketable value, such as the Rubber, Kola, Cotton, 

 Shea-butter, Gum, Indigo, Cacoa, &c., so that they 

 might serve on development later as means of 

 instruction to natives of that Colony and of the 

 interior Kingdoms who visit the Government from 

 time to time. It might have been possible, I thought, 

 to conduct this operation in such a manner as to 

 encourage economy, replenishing, and the diffusion of 

 useful and botanical knowledge of commercial im- 

 portance. 



With such a view I invited at the time the co-opera- 

 tion of those who might wish to be helpers by asking 

 them to act as contributors from time to time, as 

 seasons admitted, of seeds, plants, specimens, &c., which 

 would be gladly received by the Government. 



