28 



TABLE I. 



Distribution within the Guinea Zone. 



Squaxe Miles 



jricultural 

 Land. 



7,000 



Forest 



Merchant- 

 able 



II 



,400 



Unprofitable 



or 

 Inaccessible 



5,600 



Fuel Supply 



to 

 Mines and 

 Railways 



4,000 



Other Land 

 (a) 



52,000 



(a) This is tlie area under open vegetation (Sudanese Zone) ; it is capable of being 

 cultivated, or grazed, and provides certain minor forest products sucli as Shea 13utter. 



As an attempt to forecast the total area likely to be exploited for 

 fuel for the mines and railways has been made above, it is of interest 

 to see if any forecast can be made with respect to the ultimate forest 

 area likely to be required for cocoa. H.E. the Governor, in his 

 speech to the Legislative Council in February, 1922, stated that in- 

 vestigations into the cocoa industry had revealed the fact that the 

 total export the Gold Coast was likely to attain, having regard to all 

 factors bearing on the subject, was at the most conservative estimate 

 an annual output of 200,000 tons of beans. 



From the following data supplied by local eminent agriculturists 

 an approximation may be arrived at. Given the data that a tree pro- 

 duces if lbs. as an average per annum, and that 400 trees occur on an 

 average acre ; that, say, 20 per cent, of the area under cocoa is 

 unproductive, abandoned, or out of reach of a market, the total area 



2 24.0 

 hkely to be under cocoa is ^ ' ^ — x (200,000 -I- i of 200,000) acres, 



or 1,200 square miles. In Table I. above, only 800 square miles is 

 allowed for cocoa at the present time. 



Annual Increment. 



So far as is known there are no statistics from which the annual 

 increment of the West African Forests can be obtained. Mr. McLeod, 

 in his " Statement for the Empire Forestry Conference, 1920," ap- 

 proximates the figure to 5,000 cubic feet per acre, but states that 

 this figure is suggested only from eye estimates actually made in the 

 forest. He considers the large trees average 20 to 30 per acre, and 

 provide from 100 to 200 cubic feet per tree, whilst at least 1,000 cubic 

 feet of timber per acre is provided by the other trees. 



Neither are there any data of sufficient standing to assist in esti- 

 mating the rate of tree growth. Mr. McLeod, from his experience 

 of Nigerian and Gold Coast Forests, considers that the majority of 

 species attain maturity in 100 years. 



