22 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
if the natives could be induced to believe that a good price would 
always be paid for kernels, they would no doubt make small planta- 
tions of oil palms themselves, as some fruit always falls to the ground 
in the picking, is thus not boiled, and so is suitable for furnishing 
seed for planting. It is, of course, inadvisable to plant boiled nuts, 
as many do not germinate, owing to the germ having been destroyed 
by the boiling of the fruit; others do, however, as can be seen in the 
young oil palms sprouting from heaps of uncracked nuts which the 
natives leave near the villages. 
