242 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
girth, whereas the farm-grown palm may be over 6 feet in 
girth. It goes without saying that the latter bears larger 
bunches of fruit and the individual nuts are larger and also 
more numerous. 
Between the twelfth and fifteenth year the tree begins to 
clear itself of the lower leaves, thus forming a clean bole up 
to the tuft of fronds at the top. 
Owing to the fact that the bunches of fruit form in the 
axis of the leaf stalk, they are compressed very tightly, and 
thus ripen comparatively slowly. By cutting off the leaf 
immediately below the fruit, the ripening period is shortened 
by three weeks. This is, of course, partly due to the increased 
amount of light. Cutting leaves, however, above the fruit, 
or at all excessively in number, leads to a deceleration in growth, 
so that pruning should only be moderate. Both in the forest 
and in the open, epiphytic ferns, figs, and other plants grow 
amongst the leaves on the stem, and more especially later 
at the top of the tree. The trees are rarely, if ever, cleaned 
of these hindrances to healthy growth, but naturally they 
retard the flowering and ripening of the fruit. The leaves 
are also used for making brushes for sweeping the ground. 
Native Use.—Oil is made from the pericarp of the fruit, 
and from the kernels, for rubbing on the skin. The leaf 
stalk is used for roof-poles. 
Natural regeneration is good, although the Oil Palm thrives 
best in a deep, moist soil with considerable mineral content. 
It is, however, found growing amongst rocks on laterite and 
poor sandy land, and that in such case the rainfall is 
deficient, ie. below 40 inches. A few small plantations have 
been made. It is noticeable that self-grown seedlings grow 
much slower than those transplanted. In the first year the 
self-sown seedlings ‘grow only one pair of leaves, whereas 
those transplanted grow five or six in the same period 
Apparently the Oil Palm does not thrive unless the soil is 
kept well covered and a good surface tilth maintained. Witha 
planting distance of 20 to 24 feet there is considerable scope 
for the planting of other crops between. The chief difficulty 
appears to be to grow these at a profit without impoverishing 
the soil or hindering the quick development of the Oil Palm. 
On suitable soil the most profitable crops appear to be the 
following: ground-nuts, beans (three or four kinds), Egusi 
Bara, Citrullus vulgaris. 
A fuller consideration of this subject, and the Oil Palm 
generally, will be found in the separate section about it. 
Elesis Guineensis, var. Thompsonii. The Palm of Everlasting 
