51 



Chapter VIII. 



ECONOMIC NOTES. 

 Natural Forestry Resources and Exports. 

 The following tables taken from the Customs returns provide an 

 indication of the chief natural products of commercial importance 

 exported from the country. There is a considerable export of cola 

 nuts overland northwards which is not included in these figures. 

 Also there are many incipient industries which have not at the present 

 actually assumed commercial importance, but which promise to take 

 their place in the market as the country develops. Amongst these may 

 be considered the shea butter, obtained from the fruits of Butyrospemmm 

 Payhii, a common tree in the Savannah country. There are other sources 

 of natural wealth which must exist in the forests but which cannot be 

 brought to light until investigations have been undertaken by trained 

 research officers. Such materials may provide scope for the following 

 industries : — Acetone from wood, pulp from wood, match making, 

 cooperage material, lumber as opposed to the mahogany and cedar 

 which alone is shipped at present, railway sleepers, silk cotton, 

 gums, fats and oils from fruits such as those of the Mimusops and 

 Lophira, medicaments and rattans. In conjunction with this it 

 must also be borne in mind that the nearest part of the Empire to 

 Great Britain which contains vast tropical forests is the Gold Coast. 

 Apart from the above there are also the agricultural possibilities of 

 the country, which are so intimately bound up with the preservation 

 of the forests. 



Value and quantity of the principal vegetable products obtained from 

 forestry sources, exported from the Colony during the last 12 years : — 



