( IB ) 
The oil palm is propagated from seed, the time 
taken for germination varying considerably, depend- 
ing both on age and method of treatment in the 
propagating beds. Seeds imported from West 
Africa, which have dried up, or those which are 
either unripe or overripe, germinate very slowly; 
whilst even good ripe seeds obtained locally, when 
sown as fresh as possible, may by no means ger- 
minate rapidly. This is a serious drawback when 
a definite planting programme has been arranged 
and, therefore, special attention must be given to 
the method of propagation in order to accelerate 
germination as much possible. 
The most satisfactory method of germination is to 
collect only ripe seeds and, after removing the 
pericarp, to sow them at once, just below the surface, 
in specially prepared beds consisting of pure sand 
about 1 foot deep. The beds are exposed to the 
full sun and are kept moist by constant watering. 
Immediately the two leaf sheaths appear above the 
surface, the seedlings are removed from the sand 
beds and planted out about 1 to 11/2 ft. apart in 
specially prepared nursery beds on good fiat land. 
The seedlings remain in these beds until ready for 
transplanting into the field, which may be from 8 
to 10 months according to the season when they 
were planted out in the nursery beds. 
The most suitable distance of planting in the field 
is 30 ft, x 30 ft. triangular (equilateral), which gives 
approximately 55 palms per acre. The area to be 
planted is lined and holed in the same way as that 
recommended for coconuts. The oil palm stands 
transplanting fairly well under ordinary conditions 
and, therefore, very little supplying should be neces- 
sary. After planting, the land should be either 
