84: QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Fes., 1902. 
The land is marvellously fertile owing to the great amount of moisture in 
the atmosphere. The coasts are lined with lagoons and swamps over which 
broods a deadly miasma, and the very base rock of the country—granite with 
iron ore and hornblende—gives off large quantities of foul-smelling sulphuretted 
hydrogen. The vegetation is marvellous ; and now that the British are civilising 
the natives and teaching them the proper methods of agriculture, the exports 
of various products which, in 1876, reached £465,268, by this time total up to 
£1,000,000. 
We are induced to give this slight outline of the country in consequence 
of haying been favoured with the Annual Report upon the Botanical Depart- 
ment of the Gold Coast Colony for the year 1900, by Mr. W. H. Johnson, the 
Curator of the Gardens, addressed to the Colonial Secretary at Victoriaborg, 
Accra. 
From this report we make the following extracts for the benefit of our 
oung readers who may think the Gold Coast to be still the haunt of the slave 
rig and pirate schooner. To them it will no doubt seem funny that there 
should be in the gardens 31,000 economic plants in pots and 23,000 in nursery 
beds for distribution. To read the names of the recipients is also a revelation. 
Thus plants were sent to King Mate Kole, Chiefs Odonkor, Nyako, and 
Kwadjo Dech, Kings Akuffo, Akrobetto, and Kwadjo Wayo, &c. ‘These and 
other native chiefs send their sons to Aburi to be trained in agricultural work. 
What do our farmers’ lads think of an agricultural college tenanted by the 
sons of men who not fifty years ago indulged in awful human sacrifices and 
revelled in bloodshed and cruelty? The curator in his report states that 
requests for advice on agricultural subjects are very numerous, the chiefs 
often writing their applications. All requests from native planters are 
promptly attended to, and Mr. Johnson trayels round the country, just as does 
our Queensland Agricultural Adviser, meeting the planters and advising them 
what to do. 
During the last year he visited thirteen of the kings and chiefs, men ruling 
over territories of which a single village will contain from 4,000 to 10,000 
inhabitants. These he induced to form plantations of kola and. rubber, 
supplying them with the necessary plants from Aburi. He also instructed 
them fully in the planting operations. Over 6,000 plants were distributed on 
this occasion, and many other chiefs are about to form plantations. 5 
Cocoa is now extensively planted in various districts. From the gardens 
alone 22,500 pods of cocoa were sold. Coffee is also grown, but the low price 
obtainable militates against much extension of the plantations. Coffee grown 
by native planters and sold in London in 1900 realised 40s. per cwt. in bond. 
The duty being 14d. per Ib. and + per cent., the Gold Coast coffee would fetch 
somewhere about 55s. per ewt., or a little under 6d. per lb. One would be 
inclined to think that, with the swarms of native labour available, a yee 
certainly a native king planter—could afford to raise coffee and sell it at 2d. 
per lb. Cocoa from the colony was sold in London as high as 71s. 6d. per ewt. 
in bond. 
There is a great future before the Gold Coast Colony in the way of 
agriculture, seeing that the most valuable products of the soil can be success- 
fully grown, that labour is cheap and plentiful, and that the British officials 
are alive to the value of education for the natives, as the extracts we take 
from the report will show. 
Mr. Johnson made certain proposals to His Excellency the Governor, some 
of which were :— 
(a) The Curator of the Botanical Station to draw up simple instructions 
for the planting and general work of a farm, ess instructions to 
include general directions as to methods of planting, the require- 
ments in the way of soil, climate, and cultivation of different plants, 
and, generally, the information necessary to enable school farms to 
be conducted in a methodical manner. 
