38 



methods of agriculture. The Governor of Lagos (Sir William 

 MacGregor) describes * (November 17th, 1899) this Model Farm as 

 follows : " The headquarters are on a suitable site, a low ridge 

 about a fourth of a mile from the creek Ono, and a little more than 

 four miles from the Ibadan road. The farm lands march with 

 the Ibadan Forest Reserve on one side. They are sufficiently ex- 

 tensive, embracing about 4,000 acres. The soil is of a fair quality 

 and is evidently the home of the rubber tree. There is generally 

 about a foot of humus, merging into brownish clay or into fine 

 gravel at a depth of two or three feet. It is slightly undulating 

 and all covered by forest. It is fairly well watered for this 

 country. Mr. Punch has established a nursery of three acres, very 

 well situated on the creek, in which are set out some 10,000 plants, 

 of which 8,000 are the Ire rubber, enough to plant 40 acres of 

 forest when the planting season, May and June, arrives." 



In 1902 another Model Farm was founded at Oloke-Meji, about 

 93 miles inland to the north of Lagos, and at this place, as already 

 mentioned, the principal operations of the Botanical Department 

 were centred. 



By 1903 Agriculture appeared to be making good progress, and 

 in that year a new Director of Agriculture (and Forests), Mr. J. H. J. 

 Farquhar, B.Sc. was appointed. 



In November, 1903, the Governor (Sir William MacGregor) was 

 in a position to advise the Secretary of State of the formation of 

 an Agricultural Union, with a central council in Lagos, and to 

 request sanction to a vote of £250 for the following year for the 

 purposes of the Agricultural board. The " objects " were stated 

 to be, the introduction and distribution of new and improved seeds, 

 plants, implements and domestic animals, to give assistance by 

 means of experimental farms and gardens ; the encouragement and 

 development of agriculture by teaching, promoting shows, and by 

 any means at command. Experiments instituted by the Board 

 would be carried out at the Model Farm at Oloke-Meji, and 

 farmers and others could join the Union without paying any 

 subscription. 



This movement was one of the outcomes of the Agricultural 

 Show held at Lagos on the 11th and 12th of November, 1903: 

 the first of its kind ever held in the Colony or indeed in West 

 Africa. The show was opened by the Governor, who, in the course 

 of his speech, pointed out that the producers of the country 

 are the natives of the land and that the main object of the 

 Show was to facilitate and increase the products they raise from 

 the soil, since it was on the soil that the future of the land 

 depended. 



It is recorded that 20,000 people at least, including many of the 

 Native Chiefs, attended this show on each of the two days. 



At the present time planting operations under European 

 supervision, other than those undertaken by the Government, are 

 not extensive. The African Association have had plantations 



* Botanical Enterprise in West Africa, 1899-1901, No. 132, p. 162, Sir William 

 MacGregor, Lagos, No. 17, 1899, to Mr. Chamberlain. 



