448 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Jan. 1, 1903. 
PROGRESS OF GOLD COAST COLONY 
INCREASING EXPORTS OF CACAO AND 
OF COCONUT PRODUCTS. 
Until our perusal of the Report of the 
BotaniCiU Department of this Colony for 1901, 
received by a recent mail, we had no idea 
of the importance which the Gold Coast has 
suddenly assumed as a producer and ex- 
porter of Cacao. The development of the 
trade in this product since 1891 and especially 
within the last four years, as may be seen 
from the following figures, is phenomenal :— 
Quality and value of Cocoa exports from 
Gold Coast Colony :— 
Year. Quality. Value. 
lb. £ s. a. 
1891 ... «0 4 0 0 
1892 ... 210 4 5 0 
1893 ... 3,460 93 17 10 
1894 ... 20,.S12 546 17 4 
1895 ... 28,906 470 11 7 
1896 ... 86,854 2,275 13 3 
1897 ... 156,672 3,195 14 7 
1898 ... 414,201 9,616 4 0 
1899 ... 714 929 16,063 19 5 
1900 ... 1,200,794 27,280 9 7 
1901 ... 2,195,571 42,837 0 0 
Lb. 4,821,919 £102,388 12 7 
The export for last year in the above list is 
about equal to what Ceylon produced in 
1891 ; but if the Gold Coast goes on advanc- 
ing, it will soon overtake our 50,000 cwt. 
(5,600,000 lb.). Evidently cultivation is ex- 
tending on the African Coast, for 16,000 pods 
of cacao were sold for planting from the 
Gardens last year and the rest of the crop was 
distributed free. Twelve plants of the new 
species TJieobroma pentaqona had been re- 
ceived from the Kew and were growing satis- 
factorily. Here is an interesting fact :— 
The Native planters have discovered another 
use for the Cocoa plants, other tlian the fruit ; 
the young leaves are boiled and administered as 
a remedy ior dysentery and diarrhoea, and, they 
state, with very beneficial resultb. 
A good deal is being done with different 
kinds of coffee, cardamoms, fibres and to- 
bacco ; but it is still the day of small things 
with these. A new native fibre like jute 
had been valued in Liverpool at £12 to £13 
per ton. The great advantage all the West 
African Colonies have is proximity to the 
Liverpool and London markets, and a trade 
in fruit is likely to be successfully established. 
But next to Cacao, the really important 
industries are for the present to be in 
Coconuts and Rubber. With reference to 
the former we are told :— 
The coconut industry is in every respect adapted 
to the West African native, and tfie soil and climate 
along the Coast line are excellently suited to the 
successful cultivation of the tree, which is amply 
exemplified by the numbers of trees which already 
abound in a semi-cultivated state on the littoral 
lands of the Colony. Its most important product 
is the copra-oil, which ia expressed by machinery 
from the dry, edible portion of the nut, known in 
commerce as copra, and which requires no other 
preparation for market than simply drying in tlie 
sun ; the demand tor this oil far exceeds the supply. 
Another valuable product of the coconut palm is 
the fibre prepaved from the luT^k of the fruit, com- 
moaly called Coir, and for wliic-h there is likewise 
a f^reat demand. It is estimated that civilized, 
temperate countries would consume all the produce 
of the coconut palm that tropical countries are 
likely to produce. The tree does not commence to 
bear fruit until about the eij^uthyear.butafter that, 
with proper attention, the tree will continue pro- 
ductive for sixty or seventy years. Notwithstand- 
ing the rude methods of cultivation adopted by tlie 
natives in this country, the trees are reputed to 
yield from 75 to 100 nuts per year ; while in 
countries where the tree is cultivated in a system- 
atic manner, the reported annual average yield 
is 120 nuts, but has been known to reach 200. 
About twenty nuts yield one pound of copra ; so 
that if we estimate the average yield at 75 nuts 
per year, the trees in the Christiansborg plantation 
may be expected to produce half a ton of copra 
per year per acre, value £15 per ton ; or, if the 
oil if, expressed locally, 66 gallons of oil, value 
£14, as 60 nuts yield about 1 gallon of oil, value 
4s. 21.} but this would, however, necessitate the 
employment of machinery. 
A yield of 75 nuts per tree is very high 
for an average over any considerable area, 
especially as we see trees in the experi- 
mental Christiansborg plantations along the 
sea coast, are being planted ten yards apart, 
or about 45 trees only to the acre, against 
50 to 70 the usual ntnnber in Ceylon. 
In respect of Rubber, we are not told any- 
thing of a trade in the product of indigen- 
ous trees, but rather of the growth of plots 
of Para (200 trees), Castilloa (from seeds in 
1898 now 9 feet high, 10 inches circumfer- 
ence, 3 feet from ground), Assam Ficus, and 
finally West Africa "Funtumia elastica," 
of which we read :— 
One of these t^es planted out in the Gardens in 
1897 was tapped thia year as an experiment to teat 
the amount of rubber it was capable of producing 
at this age. The tree operated on had grown 25 feet 
high with a trunk of 1 foot 7 inches in circa on ferenoe 
at 3 feet from the ground, and was about 2 years 
old when planted. After the moisture from the 
latex obtained by this experiment had been evaporated 
off, the dry rubber weighed J lb. The result of thia 
experiment is rather important from n financial 
poiut of view, as it has been pretty generally stated 
that no return from plantations of these trees could 
be expected until about the eighth or ninth year ; 
whereas it is quite evident they a"'e ready for tapping 
at the seventh year, and that trees planted at 15 
feet apart, i.e., 193 to the acre, wolnld yield 48 lb 
o£ rubber per acre, value about £6 »t the seventh 
year. Information with regard to the amount of 
rubber yielded, and the proper age to commeace 
tapping tuntumia elastica, is much needed by persona 
interested in rubber plantations ; and this experiment 
is the first of a series which it is proposed to conduct 
in order to determine these problems. 
Mr. Biffen's patent rubber-separating machine 
is spoken of highly for its good work : — 
The machine in qtiestiou ia made in a convenient 
size for transport, and only weighs about 40 lb. The 
latex to be operated on is poured into a receiver, 
which is capable of performing 10 to 15,000 revolutions 
per minute; the rubber globules being separated by 
centrifugal force. The machine cm be manipulated 
by hand, and a man, or even a boy, could with 
Paso separate 48 lb. of rubber per hoar by this means; 
and all that would be then necessary to prep»re this 
rubber for market would be to press and dry it 
in the snn; the resulting product being an exact 
reproduction of what ia asked for by manufacturers 
i.e., oleaD, dry, and free from decomposition. 
