r 
242 
the into heaps at intervals óf about 18 ue In (Merck and April 
between the yam hills, Indian corn. ‘ In three months’ time 
the am ripens and is Early in October maize pa bind beans are 
cropped. 
ted between the yams and are cropped with them in Mou 
or Ja anuary, or are left to stand in the field during the 
During the second — precisely similar course is followed with 
almost equally good results, while in the third year of cultivation the 
land is Y sese to yield two crops of maize and beans, no manure of 
any kind being used, nor any tool more powerful than the hoe. 
For two or e diia and for no longer, the — is left to lie fallow. 
During this interval in its cultivation it bears a heavy crop of rank 
grass and — bushes. Scand this short rest it is expected to be in a 
condition to warrant a fres and in the months of November and 
third year deem in "the first gea d the fourth year of 
its Eresi the vegetation which has sprung up is cut down, dried, and 
burnt on the land, and the process of planting anioi above begins 
once more. As each farmer owns but a small portion of land, the pro- 
perty, perhaps, of his father and ao dthor before him, upon n which he 
is isis dependent for his livelihood, he would be left entirely without 
were its fertility to become exhausted. Apparently this is never 
the case. For or generations in ^ rela the same erops are planted and 
an equal return is given by the so 
Guinea-corn—A guinea-corn field i is planted and cropped in the first 
year of cultivation. The plants are then bent down e a foot and a half 
from the ground and allowed to shoot again from the roots. During the 
ond yeara crop not less than that | given demic the first year is 
gathered. The stalks = then cut down and burnt, and a crop of 
yams, or corn and beans, or cotton is raised in the third ad of cultiva- 
tion. After this n land i is allowed to lie fallow for the usual period 
unless the third year's crop is cse heavy, in which case a ie th 
eee api ct oven and beans is rais 
ton.—In cultivating cotton the Yoruba, after cleaning the land 
a plants corn (maize) at the usual distances, When the maize. 
is three feet high and thiek enough to serve as a shade plant, cotton seed 
b 
growth, while Protecting their roots from the direct rays of the sun. 
o 
SAEN € of maize is — aie ng it. 
d year yams are planted between the cotton, and in 
following year the land is toca: and the cotton is left to seed a “third 
) —For tobacco planting a seed bed is made on rotten grass 
biieil Sith earth, during the March rains. A moist place is chosen 
for the purpose. From 17 to 30 days after sowing, the seedlings are 
pricked out in newly cleaned land. "Two crops a year are gathered for 
the first two years, after which the rS are removed and corn and 
are planted in the third year. With the tobacco nothing is grown, 
and some little care is taken to pinch off ihe side-shoots and heads in 
order.to ensure a strong growth of leaves. 
Indigo gn: .—Indigo* is planted in any soil, and is a permane 
crop. It is planted from slips at irregular intervals, and from hie 
*The West African indigo here d Mudo is obtainel from Lonchocarpus 
cyanescens, a woody climber 20 to 30 feet long. See Kew Bulletin, November 1888, 
p. 268, with plate. 
