NIGERIA 171 
sample sections have been cut from one or two of these trees and 
reported on most favourably by the Railway Administration. Similar 
samples have been sent to the Imperial Institute for exhibition purposes. 
In a short time the first thinnings of the plantations will take place, and 
it will be possible to see for what purpose they are most suitable. At 
any rate, it is a termite-proof wood, and despite the fact that the white 
ants often attack the growing tree, they usually eat only the outer 
bark, leaving the tree quite intact and alive. 
In all, about 300 acres have been planted with teak, and even at 
the low valuation of the cost of making them they are worth at least 
£45,000. In this case a nominal value of only 3s. per cubic foot is 
assumed. As has proved the case in Burma, probably on the best soils 
only a period of eighty years will have to elapse before the final filling 
of the trees is made on the better classes of soil, and one of a hundred 
on the poorer soils. At approximately regular intervals of every ten 
years after the first ten or fifteen have elapsed from the date of the 
making of the plantation, thinnings are made. With each succeeding 
period the trees cut out are of larger size, and thus of increasing value 
with each decade. These returns soon more than cover the cost of 
planting, and assume greater and greater proportion towards the 
end of the rotation. 
Another tree with which a considerable amount of work has been 
done is the Iroko (Chlorophora excelsa). Here, despite many disap- 
pointing results, care and attention show that this tree is capable of 
reproducing itself in a comparatively short period. Beyond many 
specimens in the Arboretum at Olokemeji, a whole plantation was 
made by the Railway between that place and Eruwa Road. Seedlings 
come up in large numbers from fresh seed sown in a nursery. In 
fact, sometimes, as at Olokemeji, they have appeared thicker than grass. 
Subsequently, when transplanted, many thousands died, the roots 
being apparently unable to quickly adjust themselves to new surround- 
ings and grow again before the leaves have transpired nearly all the 
moisture from the plant, and thus quite withered and dried it up. 
However, those which have survived show fair growth, even on poor 
laterite soil. This soil, of course, is quite unsuited, and certainly one 
of the poorest mediums in which to plant Iroko. 
Natural regeneration or the sowing of seeds at stake seems to be 
the best method, as we have in nearly all the Reserves large numbers 
of young Iroko seedlings of all ages and sizes coming up. In that 
connection one of the most instructive Forest Reserves is that of 
Ikrigon, where the Iroko (Chlorophora excelsa) is the most prevalent 
tree. Here, where most of the land has been farmed at one time or 
another and where the rainfall on the whole is sufficient to induce a 
good forest growth, the Iroko has tended to increase in numbers all 
through this part of the country. It may also be said, of course, that 
