149 



Edible Products. 



markets in Akhn are Insuaim, Essamang, Kwaben, Tumfa, an<l Kankau. In 

 Kwaben or Tumfa, it is possible to purchase from a single person 10 loads contain- 

 ing 2,000 nuts each. Previously the cola produced in Ashanti was only purchased 

 by Hausas and transported by them northwards to the Hausa States, but the 

 restoration of order in Ashanti and the completion of the railway to Kumasi has 

 facilitated the transport of this crop to the coast. 



VI . The Botanic Gardens, Aburi— and the Development of the 



Cocoa Industry. 



The Agricultural Experiment Gardens formed at Aburi in 1890 conducted 

 cultural experiments with cocoa in order to draw the attention of the natives and 

 especially the chiefs to the advantages likely to accrue from the cultivation of 

 this product. The oldest trees in the Gardens are 15 to 16 years old {i.e. in August 

 1903), and a large area is planted with trees 12 to 16 years old. This healthy and 

 productive plantation is the origin of the great cocoa industry of the Gold Coast 

 as the fruits produced by it have been continuously distributed to the natives. 

 The trees are planted (I) 12 x 12 feet apart, and the first shade trees employed were 

 Erythrina ; but as this tree is deciduous during the dry season and therefore of 

 little value a more satisfactory substitute (II) has been found. 



In 1898 the Curator commenced travelling in the neighbouring districts 

 with the view of instructing the native farmers in the cultivation and preparation 

 of cocoa. During each of his tours large quantities of cocoa seeds were offered to 

 the natives without charge ; many were, however, loath to accept them being 

 suspicions of the objects for which this free distribution was being effected ; but 

 when the seeds were offered for sale at a ridiculously low price they were eagerly 

 purchased. The following year the same officer prepared a brief treatise on the 

 cultivation and preparation of cocoa which was first printed in English and later 

 in the vernacular for free distribution. Opportunities were also afforded to the 

 chiefs and other influential natives to send one of their family to the Gardens to 

 learn agricultural work, but this excellent arrangement met with little success as the 

 parents and guardians in each case failed in their compact to supply their protege 

 with subsistence money. A second attempt which consists of receiving young lads 

 who have received a slight education as paid agricultural apprentices, has proved 

 more successful ; again from the regular labourers in the Gardens, some are selected 

 to teach native farmers and others are employed to lay out their cocoa plantations. 



When cocoa was first produced the merchants were disinclined to purchase 

 this product and the Botanic Gardens undertook its shipment, but naturally 

 abandoned this work when the merchants had overcome their first reserve. The 

 development of the industry is still, however, kept in view and experiments are 

 now progressing in the fermentation of cocoa. 



VII. Further Development of Cocoa Cultivation. 



In order to encourage cocoa growing in the Western portion of the Colony, 

 the Government has established an experimental garden at Tarkwa where experi- 

 ments are in progress with the cultivation of this product with a view to determine 

 the best distances to plant the cocoa trees apart and the most suitable shade trees. 

 Large quantities of seed are being sent from Aburi for distribution in Ashanti, 

 and the Basel Mission Society is also encouraging its members to form cocoa 

 plantations in the latter district. " 



There is lirtle doubt that the export of cocoa will considerably increase 

 within the next few years, for thanks to the sporadical method of laying out cocoa 

 farms previously described, neither epidemics nor exhaustion of the soil will effect 

 it, and nothing but a further heavy fall in prices will check it. In short here is an 

 industry developed which one can only admire and regret that Togoland lacks 

 such a beneficial institution. 



