Chapter VIII: Nigeria (1)

I. THE RIVERS, PORTS AND FORESTS OF NIGERIA.

Starting from Lagos, the first port of call, the coast is flat, sandy, and low-lying as compared with the typical seaboard of Europe with its cliffs. Long sandy beaches with scattered coconut palms in the background are more prevalent in this part of Nigeria than the water- covered mangrove swamps, showing rather a stunted growth. Westwards from Lagos there are the scattered mangrove formations in the estuary of the Yewa River, near which is the trading station of Badagri. Following the line of the coast, somewhat better mangrove areas are found towards the mouth of the Benin, Escravos and Forcados Rivers. The estuary of the Niger, extending from the last-named river as far as the Sombreiro, shows varied development of the mangrove type of vegetation, as well as the first admixture of other hardwood trees at the edge of the mangrove zone. On the way one passes the Ramos, the Brass, Nun, St. Bartholomew and St. Barbara, each forming outlets for the forests further north. Beyond the Sombreiro the estuaries of the New Calabar, Cawthorne and Bonny Rivers contain further mangrove areas, usually in the form of large islands. Eastwards of the Bonny River the mangrove to some extent gives way to comparatively large areas known as rain forests, owing to the comparatively heavy rainfall in those localities. The Andoni, Opobo, Kwaiebo form the outlets for these forests.

The Cross, Calabar, Kwa and Akwayefe are the most easterly rivers in Nigeria. In the estuary of each, more especially of the Cross River, the finest mangrove forests are to be seen. Next to these in point of height and straightness of bole are the forests on the banks of the St. Barbara and Forcados Rivers.

The Lagos River, with its present bar-draught of 19 feet, is followed eastwards by the port of Forcados, showing 19 feet. As subsidiaries, and northwards from Forcados, are the inland ports of Warri and Koko, both, and especially the latter, being timber-shipping centres. Sapeli, another 40 miles up the Benin River beyond Koko, was and still remains a timber port of some importance, and from it the trade name of one kind of mahogany, namely Sapeli wood, is derived. Brass, considerably further eastward, is practically a seaside port, to which some produce of the Niger Delta is brought. Degema, Bugama, Bakana, Okrika and Port Harcourt are inland ports all reached from Bonny, situated at the mouth of the river of the same name. Opobo, on the Imo, is yet another inland port with a 14-foot bar at the river mouth. Eket is the small port for the Kwaiebo River, whence small steamers run to Calabar. Oron, on the western side of the estuary, is also a port worthy of mention. Though Calabar is some 15 miles above the junction of the Akwayefe, Kwa and Cross Rivers, it is the chief port of Eastern Nigeria. It is situated on the side of a hill some 200 feet high on the bank of the Calabar River, which is half a mile wide at this point.

Turning now to the next type of forest met with after leaving the mangrove zone, the thick, heavy, evergreen rain forest is seen. On the western side in the province of Abeokuta it has very largely been destroyed, only comparatively small isolated areas remaining. In the Ondo province, however, some of the most extensive and heaviest timber areas of this type are found. A good network of rivers, such as the Ogun, Ona, Oshun, Oni, Shasha and Owenna, when flooded, form the outlets for timber worked in these localities. In the northern part of the Warri province and the southern part of the Benin province large representative areas of the evergreen type are found, though there they tend to mingle with the tall, mixed deciduous forests. To a small extent in the Owerri, but to the largest extent in the Calabar province, the rain forests find their finest development, culminating in the Oban Hills on the eastern side of the latter provinces. The rainfall there is 175 inches per annum.

The Sasswood is one of the first trees to appear when the mangrove swamp gives way to the evergreen forest. Other large trees are the mahoganies, found chiefly on the old banks; red ironwood, with its brilliant red fresh leaves in the late autumn. In fact, these leaves are often taken for flowers, owing to their very bright colour. They gradually, however, assume a dark green colour as the season advances. An unidentified species of gum-copal which grows to colossal dimensions is found scattered rather diffusely and curiously in these areas. Different kinds of ebony, with wood varying from brown to green black, are seen throughout the zone, though, as with other trees, a different species is found in the different provinces; on the whole, the blackest wood is found where the rainfall is heaviest.

The mixed deciduous zone, which consists both of deciduous and evergreen trees, mingles and gradually develops at the northern edge of the evergreen rain forest; in many cases the one goes over into the other almost imperceptibly, and it is only perhaps after half a day’s march that one realizes that one has left the evergreen type behind and reached the forests where half the trees lose their leaves every year. A very large development of these forests is found in the Abeokuta, Oyo, Jebu-ode and Ondo provinces. Very heavy inroads have been made in these forests, and it remains to be seen whether sufficient will be preserved to ensure the future fertility of the soil and the requisite rainfall. One of the most prominent species is the cotton-tree, with its great root buttresses and muscle-like protuberances from the stem. The Obechi, or Arere, is another magnificent timber tree, with soft white wood and maple-like leaves, which grows to huge dimensions. The African greenheart, which may grow 12 feet in diameter, is hard enough to break the blade of an axe. The Iroko, taking the place of oak in African economy, is another tree frequently met with, and it extends its area of distribution as the forests are opened up with clearings. East of the Niger this formation is only found to a small extent in the Onitsha province; a little larger in the northern part of the Owerri province, and still largest in the northern part of the Calabar and the southern part of the Ogoja province. In fact, the finest development of the mixed deciduous forests is found in the last-named province, just north of the Cross River, where it is really at the edge of the true deciduous forest. In this zone some three kinds of mahogany are found, in some places very diffusely scattered, in others up to a thousand mature trees in eight square miles, or in a third nearly every tree a mahogany on both sides of the road for over half a mile. The four species in this zone vary less from province to province than they do in the case of the evergreen forest zone, though the total number may be greater.

Beginning again on the western side, the open deciduous forest or dry- zone formation shows itself over a very wide extent in Oyo, Northern Jebu-ode, and in the Northern Benin provinces. East of the Niger it is of wide extent in the Northern Onitsha and Northern Ogoja provinces, but it also occurs in the northern part of the Owerri province as an artificial product of man’s destruction of the original forest. In some places this formation, owing to the trees being close together, more nearly approaches the deciduous forest. In others, owing to the poor and stunted nature of the arboreal growth, it more nearly approaches the open grass savannah formation. Only north of the Oyo province near Shaki, or north of Ogoja in that province, could it be said that this kind of formation is seen.

One of the most prominent kinds of trees found is the Shea Butter, the nut of which is used in the making of chocolate cream and margarine. This tree, varying in size from a large oak to a short, stunted, gnarled and burnt relic of better forest conditions, is found over very wide areas in the Oyo and northern part of the Abeokuta province. Strangely enough, this tree does not appear in the northern part of the Benin or Onitsha province, and only occurs again in the north-eastern corner of the Ogoja province. The locust-trees, with their open crown and feathery leaves and long pods similar to French beans, are conspicuous all through the zone, and near the villages are specially preserved. Mahogany is represented in this zone as another species which does not attain a greater girth than 10 feet and which is often gnarled and crooked owing to the annual grass fires. A medium sized Cedrela, or hard cigar-box wood, is found in isolated patches in the northern part of the Abeokuta and southern part of the Oyo province. The balsam-copaiba-tree is also very common in this zone in the North Benin, Onitsha and Ogoja provinces.

The forests of this zone are perhaps the least valuable from the financial point of view, chiefly owing to their geographical position and defective means of transport, but economically they are of great value to the agricultural community, both for their forest produce as well as their soil-preserving and rainfall-conserving properties. The chief timber areas are situated in the heavy rain forest and mixed deciduous forest areas, though a few have recently been taken up in the mangrove swamps.

As a minor, though important, development to the main forests are the evergreen hill forests, which find wide development in the northern part of the Jebu-ode, Ondo, Benin, Ogoja and Calabar provinces. On the whole, the species do not vary so much as might be expected, and in many cases it simply means a further distribution of certain evergreen trees beyond their zone of natural development, owing to suitable climatic conditions in these hills. For instance, the red ironwood appears next the mangrove swamp on the bank of the St. Barbara River, again in the evergreen forests near Calabar, and reappears in the hill forests of Oban, much further north. Probably the most typical trees of the hill forests are an unidentified species of gum-copal, as well as several species of Guttiferæ.

The fringing forests are found chiefly on the banks of the rivers in an area which is otherwise covered with the open deciduous or dry-zone formation. Two leguminous trees are most typical of this zone. Stray deciduous or evergreen trees from the other zones are also seen. Such forest is thick with a fair amount of undergrowth, and the trees form a close canopy. The fringes vary from a few yards to half a mile in width.

A further subsidiary form is found on the summits of the highest mountains, such as the Boji Hills, with their stunted satinwood trees, shrubs and grass. In some places there is yet another minor formation, that of the freshwater swamps. Some typical examples of these are found on the banks of the Calabar, Osse and Owenna Rivers. In most cases only one, or any how only a few species of trees are found, whereas in the major formations several hundred different species appear. The growth in these swamp formations, both mangrove and freshwater, is on the whole not so large as that of the evergreen forest. Again, the evergreen forest does not show such fine development or such height of tree as the mixed deciduous forests, though occasionally the greatest girth of bole is found in the evergreen forests.

II. THE MAHOGANY AND TIMBER INDUSTRIES.

According to Nigerian law, timber includes planks sawn for logs and trees hollowed out or shaped for any purpose whatever. The timber- working industry, then, is a wide one, covering really three distinct fields of activity, though one or more may be combined. First, there is the felling of mahogany chiefly, and other furniture-wood trees for export. In the second place, the native, and to a slight extent the European firms, cut timber for local use, mainly in the forest, such as planks, canoes and posts. Thirdly, there is the Government, which under the auspices of the Forestry Department chiefly, and to some extent under the Public Works Department, cuts timber of various kinds, chiefly Iroko, for railway buildings and road bridges.

Turning now first of all to the export industry, which is most important at the present time, though the local demand for timber will soon dwarf that of the former, there is a definite sequence of action necessary in embarking on this form of economic development.

As soon as a firm decides on timber-getting, an application (made out in triplicate) has to be sent in with good maps or plans of the area, which is applied for, to the Conservator of Forests of that circle. It is understood that the area in question has been thoroughly examined by the firm before the application is made. A fee of £3 in stamps as well as a banker’s guarantee of £400 for each area of 100 square miles is also necessary before the application can be considered. The species of tree to be cut should also be stated, as well as the names of the villages and chiefs occupying or living in or adjacent to the area. Owing to the time taken in making the fullest inquiries into the occupancy and other rights, as well as ascertaining the financial standing of the firm in question, it is usually several months before the applicant hears that the area has been granted.

Before this the applicant should also forward a confidential statement, stating exactly what capital there is available to develop the timber areas. An additional banker’s reference to the Crown Agents will save unnecessary delay in the granting of the area.

Before the notification of the grant of the area, the licence is made out in the Conservator’s office, for which a £5 stamp as well as three good maps are necessary. Roughly, an additional £2 10s. is required to satisfy the legal fees upon registration, which follows immediately after the execution of the licence by the licensee of the grantees. It should be especially noted that anyone acting on behalf of a firm should be in the possession of a registered power of attorney, enabling him to act in the fullest possible way for the applicant or company acquiring land rights. This power of attorney should be registered beforehand, otherwise another delay will ensue whilst this is being done.

As soon as the area is granted, the applicant should mark all boundaries with the necessary marks, which also appear in the licence. Within six months after the granting of the area, work has to be begun. The first proceeding is to send in a list of trees, numbered serially from one upwards, stating the species, size (girth at 10 feet above ground), where situated, name of nearest village and chief occupying land in the vicinity, together with the amount of fees and royalties payable on the trees. The trees have been marked and numbered previous to the duplicate lists being sent in. It is usual to pay a cheque or bill for the fees and cash for the royalties, then one of the two lists sent in is returned to the sender marked “Permission granted.” Felling can now begin. On the whole, the general practice is to cut the trees down in the earlier months of the year and have nearly all completed by March or April. Logging, with a cross-cut saw or axe, and squaring with an axe and adze, follows as soon as the trees are felled, and, as it takes longer, continues afterwards right into May or June. Hauling begins as soon as sufficient logs are ready to be drawn and the hauling roads have been cleared. Usually different gangs haul to those employed on the tree-felling and squaring. Eighty or a hundred boys are lined up and haul on two ropes attached to the end of the log. The log, having been shaped at the end to allow easy hauling over the rollers or ground, is “snaked” along to the nearest waterside, river bank or creek. Here two timber-dogs are driven in the end for attaching the cane or rope to hold several together. In the smaller streams or creeks, single logs, or two joined together, float down to another station, where a bigger raft of 40 to 100 logs is made up. In a good many rivers the rise of the water takes place in July, and it is then that the largest number of logs float out. Another lesser rise for the most part, except in the largest, such as the Cross or Niger Rivers, occurs in October, when all logs possible are got out for that season.

Logs left by this last flood usually have to stay until the following year, when the river will rise again. Sometimes as many as three seasons elapse before it is possible to get out some logs. The higher reaches of the Owenna have an unenviable reputation in this respect. Several short rainy seasons following each other successively cause the same result. The Ijors are the chief “waterboys,” who contract to take logs down the creeks at 5s., 10s. or 15s. a log, according to distance and nature of the creek. The Ossiomo has also a bad name, owing to its swift current and the liability of losing the logs.

Most labour is engaged direct, though handed over to a contractor who is paid 1½d. to 1¾d. per foot of timber squared or logged brought to the nearest waterside. The labour, however, is paid by the European firm, which is entirely responsible for the payment.

The shipment of the logs is made at Koko, Warri or Forcados from Lagos and at Lagos itself, the first-named port taking the majority. Many firms have a branch store and office at this port, or another firm ships logs for others not represented at a fixed charge per log. Export entries showing numbers of logs, size and value are presented to the Customs Department before shipment. Koko, which used to be quite free from the Teredo borer, is now unsafe for logs after a fortnight’s floating in the water there.

The shipping companies do not particularly desire logs as freight, owing to their weight and unwieldiness in handling. Space is left between them to some extent in the hold. The hatches have to be especially long to take the biggest logs. From Lagos, Forcados, Calabar, etc., a freight rate varying from 35s., 40s., to 45s.[2] per ton for 2¾, 3 and over 5-ton logs. Koko, on the other hand, is only 25s., with 10s. extra for primage. This is the same with the other freight rates.

During the voyage the logs gradually dry, and often by the time they are put into the timber yard of the brokers they are split or cracked. Only the best logs, 30 feet long and quite sound at the start, stand all the rough handling they get. Auction sales take place about once a fortnight in the busy season, though sales by private treaty take place occasionally. Logs can sometimes be sold ex quay too, though by far the most of the wood is sold by public auction. The inclusive charge of landing, stacking and selling at the dock is roughly 10 per cent. of the value of the log. In fact, it is quite a considerable item of expense, and often makes the difference between profit and loss on the smaller and lower-grade logs. All logs are sold by the superficial foot, i.e. one foot square, one inch thick “sale measure.” Sale measure obtains only in the mahogany trade for square logs, and is roughly 20 per cent. less than the actual cubical contents of the log. Round logs are measured and sold by extreme (full) measure. A wane of six inches or less is left on the squared logs, because it makes them less liable to crack and split at the corners, and also it saves a good deal of timber which would otherwise be wasted.

Liverpool is the best mahogany market, though fair prices are obtainable for good logs in London. Hamburg used to be the market for Gaboon wood, and on the whole new woods were better received than in the English market. As a rule, figured mahogany always commands a good price, whereas plain wood, with the exception of roey or counter-top timber, only fetches a moderate or low price, unless the market is understocked at the time. The best wood is obtained from the Ivory Coast, and the next best is Benin or Lagos wood. Sapeli wood is very heavy, and found a market chiefly in Germany. Cross River wood has yet to be shipped and proved, though samples there looked very good and even showed some figure. So far, only the leased areas have been spoken of. Now we return to the Reserves, where, however, permits to cut trees can only be obtained. Here leases are usually not granted. The rules with regard to replanting do not apply in the same way, as all planting is in the hands of the Department. On the whole, stricter supervision may be exercised in the Reserves than on leased areas. Although a firm has no lease, the security of tenure for cutting the trees would be at least as good as under a lease. No other firm would be in the same position to fell and extract timber as the first one to whom permission was granted. The Government would not allow any other amounts of trees to be felled that would injure the working of the forest by the first applicant.

Local felling is conducted by one or two firms in their areas, which were in the first instance obtained for export timber. For the most part, however, the natives or native foreigners fell various kinds of trees such as Iroko, _Chlorophora excelsa_, Owussu, _Sarcocephalus esculentus_, Ume, _Pterocarpus soyauxii_ and _Pterocarpus Osun_, Edat, _Saccoglottis Gabunensis_. Nearly half the permits issued are for Iroko, the main building timber of the Yoruba and Benin and Ibo countries. The Camwoods or Barwoods are felled next to obtain the brilliant red heartwood, chiefly from the roots, but also from the stem. A dyewood which produces a fast colour is obtained by rubbing a small pointed section on a flattish piece of the same wood. A yellow dyewood is obtained from Anyeran _Afrormosia laxiflora_.

The canoe-making industry absorbs a large number of trees. The native, chiefly Ijor, chooses the tree with great care as to straightness of stem and length of bole. It is felled near a river bank or otherwise reasonably accessible place. First of all two sides are flattened parallel to each other; at the same time the length of the canoe is chosen and the tree bole cut off at the required length. A narrow groove about half the depth of the diameter of the log is now made with small axes and an adzelike instrument. The log is then shaped externally like a canoe, especially both bow and stern. Next, more wood is cut away on the inside and some pieces of wood stuck across to keep the canoe open. A shelter is put over it during a hot day. As soon as the requisite amount has been cut out, dry palm branches are placed all round the canoe outside on the ground; longer cross pieces are fixed over the canoe of the required length for thwarts when the canoe is finished. Long stakes are driven into the ground opposite each of these on each side of the canoe, so that the natives can obtain a strong leverage over the canoe. Fire is now put to the palms, beginning with the bow of the canoe. The heat makes the wood expand and thus opens the canoe; at the same time the natives pull down the stakes at the side of the canoe and press the cross pieces into their places. This extends gradually the whole length of the canoe in the course of the day, which is the most strenuous of all, as upon the energy and care exercised on this day in making the canoe open out evenly in its entire length and the same amount each side depends its future success in the water. It may turn out lopsided, or, as is often the case, a hole may appear in the middle of the stern end, owing to the centre of the tree having been rather old and rotten. This can be covered over, and is often above the waterline.

Canoes vary in size from the Oguta canoe, in which the paddler has to keep one foot in the water to balance the canoe, to the twelve-puncheon canoe of the big traders. This last will have a great hollow dug out fully 6 feet deep at the stern end and over 60 feet long.

The sawyers cut the tree all round, fell it, and then cut it into 12-feet length logs, as far as the bole allows. The huge branches are left untouched. A large pit is dug quite close to the logs, and one by one they are placed over and sawn, first two sides and then into three large planks; finally these are cut into 12-inch planks one inch thick. Most of the work is done within four miles of the railway line or within twenty miles of a large town, such as Jebu-ode, Ife, Ibadan, Abeokuta. Truck loads of this timber may be seen at Ilugun or Ogunshileh, on the Nigerian Railway.

Permits are also issued for the making of smaller articles, such as verandah posts, culled out of a guttiferous tree; sleepers, sawn from Iroko (_Chlorophora excelsa_); sword-sheaths, made from Ogohen (_Musanga Smithii_); mortars, cut from Apa (_Afzelia Africana_); pestles, fashioned out of Eba (_Lophira procera_).

The dyewood industry in itself is chiefly developed on the banks of the Cross River. The trees are felled in the Oban forests, allowed to lie a year or two, then cut up into long 3- to 4-inch irregular-shaped scantling or poles. These are sold chiefly in the Oban market, after which they are cut into small sections. Women take these up and make lozenge-shaped bricks about a foot long in the greatest length. These are sold at 6d. each.

Under Government auspices, one of the first enterprises was the sawmill at Etehetem. A very hard redwood, termed Apassa by the Efiks (_Mimusops lacera_), and also mahogany (_Ochrocarpus Africanus_) were cut. Owing to the difficulty of expansion and the increasing cost of the logs, the plant is to be moved elsewhere. The railway had a small plant at Han, where timber and sleepers were cut for the Baro Kano line. At Ebuttemetta the railway also have a small mill for cutting chiefly Iroko, Apa, and a little redwood.

Of the various firms, Messrs. McIver had a small mill in Lagos, chiefly for sawing up mahogany logs not worth shipping to England. Later, in 1909, Messrs. Miller Brothers built a mill at Koko town; Agba (_Copaifera sp.?_) as well as mahogany logs have been cut; Ebbe and Obiache, and Obechi (_Triplochiton Nigericum_), the last-named being a good whitewood.

The Anglo-French Company have started a plant near Oron Eastern Circle to cut sleepers out of mangrove wood, Lagenaria and Rhizophora.

Lastly, the Government have started a new mill at Apapa, near Lagos, for cutting logs obtained near Akilla, on the Oni River, in the Abeokuta province, and the planing, grooving and recutting is done in connection with the Public Works yards and furniture-making establishment in Lagos.

The Akilla work is run entirely by the Forestry Department. Trees are felled, cut into logs and brought to the waterside; then, rafted with others, floated in kerosine tins on lighter wood to Apapa. A regular rate is charged per cubic foot. Work was started in August 1914, and already several thousand logs have been delivered at Apapa.

III. THE PERMANENT FORESTS OR FOREST RESERVES.

In the main, all Forest Reserves become the permanent forests of a country. So far as Nigeria, for instance, is concerned, certain definite and well-defined portions of the original forests have been set aside, by agreement with the natives, as Forest Reserves. If these areas had not been set aside, they would have been liable to destruction under the form of shifting cultivation which the local people practise. For instance, at Olokemeji there are several thousand acres in the middle of the Reserve which were cleared some years ago and have not yet grown up. This would have been the fate of the rest of the forest if it had not definitely been placed under the care and protection of the Forest Department. The same applies to other areas scattered over the country.

It is somewhat hard to define the meaning of a Reserve. Essentially it is an area permanently set aside for the production of timber or other forest produce. In many cases, however, the trees or the forests have to be preserved in the interests of the climatic conditions of the locality. If it is found that by cutting down a forest the rainfall decreases every year, the springs dry up, and the land becomes covered with grass, where actual grass fires kill all young vegetation and even hinder farming operations, then the forest must be reserved. To take some examples: In the colony of Sierra Leone there is a Peninsular Mountain Forest, a large and valuable Reserve, 80 per cent. of which is covered with red ironwood, _Lophira procera_. Then in the Protectorate there are the Kambui Hills, Kennema, then Nimmini, and the Loma Mountain Reserve. In the colony and Protectorate of the Gold Coast there is the Dunkwah Reserve. Some of the most improved reserves in the southern province of Nigeria are in the Western Circle. There are Olokemeji, Mamu, Ilaro, Oshun, Owenna and Ondo Reserves. Again, in the Central Circle there are the Okumu, Obagie, Gilli-gilli, the Uhi, and the Ogba Forests.

In the Eastern Circle there are the Oban, Ikrigon and Ajasso Reserves, in all aggregating about 2,000 square miles.

Contrary to the usual idea, we have seen that a Forest Reserve is in reality only a permanent forest, which is primarily maintained for the definite production of some forest or other product. It cannot be too much emphasized that it is definitely set aside to be used wisely; and for all the trees taken, suitable replanting operations are undertaken by the Forest Department. The name “Reserve” is in fact rather a misnomer. In the early stages of a forest administration it is convenient to talk about Forest Reserves as distinct from the rest of the country, which is usually covered with forest and termed “unreserved” forest. It may, later on, become agricultural land; it may also be reserved, in which case it becomes a Forest Reserve or one of the permanent forests of the country. The main point to be observed with a Reserve is that it is primarily for use, and not that the timber is to be reserved and not to be utilized by the general public. Even in those cases where the local demands of the people are great and have to be satisfied first, before any outside timber exporter is allowed to work the forest, it is utilized to the greatest extent compatible with its maintaining a yearly permanent output of timber or other forest product. Permanency of output is the watchword, and strict utilization of the increment-bearing capacity of the forest each year. The increment is of course the amount which each tree grows each year. This amount, added together over the whole area, makes up the quantity which may be felled, on the proportional area during the rotation, in any one year. Thus, to give a concrete example: If an area is 100 square miles in extent, and the rotation is 100 years, then one-hundredth of that area, or one square mile, may be cut over in one year; also, if the sum of the growth amounts to 40 cubic feet per acre per year, this means to say that an annual cut of 25,600 cubic feet can be made each year over one square mile of the area, in the case of a clear felling of all the trees, or spread over an area of 10 square miles in the form of a slight thinning of the trees. In the Temperate Zone, on moderate soil, 40 cubic feet of timber per annum is a good yield, so that in the Tropics we may expect a yield of quite double this amount; therefore it will be seen how readily the forest can grow and how much timber can be obtained permanently from the Permanent Forests or Reserves.

Another great advantage of the Permanent Forest or Forest Reserve, compared with the ordinary leased areas, is the fact that the planting is done by the Forest Department and not by the leaseholder. In an ordinary leased area this planting is a considerable source of expenditure and worry to the leaseholder, and even then satisfactory results are hard to be obtained. He is continually being reminded of his planting duties by the Forest Department, and he is continually striving to keep up the proportionate amount of planting, i.e. 24 trees for every tree felled, and this is by no means easy to attain. Although the annual leaseholder working in a Forest Reserve may be under greater supervision and more stringent forest regulations than in the ordinary leased areas, on the whole his prospects of getting out greater quantities of timber more expeditiously and cheaply are much greater than in the ordinary areas.

Particularizing some of the great concrete objects for which reserve is made:

Firstly, the permanent supplies of timber of all kinds, with a view to turning out approximately the same quantity year after year in perpetuity—in fact, if anything, gradually increasing the output year after year. This means to say that, although the forest is cut down, it is replaced at the same rate at which it is cut down. Putting it in another way, there must be as many blocks, or portions or actual “stands” in the forest as represent the number of years which elapse between the time a tree is planted and the time it is cut down. This period is known to foresters as “the rotation,” and in northern temperate countries, for Coniferous trees the time is usually reckoned at about 80 years. In the tropics, with mahogany, Iroko and other timbers, it may be only necessary to allow 60 years, or perhaps on very poor ground 100 years. In the case of teak in Burma, a rotation between 80 and 100 years is perhaps about sufficient to enable merchantable timber to be produced. Putting it in another way, in the forest, in order to have the permanent yield, there must be sufficient trees of each girth class, so that when the largest, say those over 12 feet in girth, are cut down, there must be sufficient of those between 10 and 12 feet, which will grow during a 10-year period (in which they are cut) from 10 feet to 12 feet in girth. At the present time it has been found convenient to classify each class as “under 2 feet, 2 to 4 feet, 4 to 6 feet, 6 to 8 feet, 8 to 10 feet, 10 to 12 feet, and over 12 feet.” The object of this is to clear away, or have cut, all those trees over 12 feet in girth. This makes room for younger, quicker-growing timber. Although, under the Nigerian Forest Law, the girth of mahogany has been reduced to 11 feet, and in some districts to 10 feet, eventually, as the older and more unremunerative slower-growing trees are cut down, it will be possible to reduce the girth still further. To put this question of the permanent yield in yet another way: All the trees from one year old, or from the smallest size to those over 12 feet in girth, represent what we may call the forest capital. Now, the object of the rotation is only to take the interest on this capital; that is to say, the amount which grows on all the trees over the whole area for one year. It would, however, not do to clip off little pieces from each tree over the whole area, as they would be quite useless as timber. Therefore this amount is calculated out as so many cubic feet per annum, or so many trees above a girth of 12 feet or 11 feet, or whatever the girth limit may be, and this amount, either in cubic feet or in the number of trees, is allowed to be cut down each year. Then we know that year after year this amount can be cut down again, and as the soil and other conditions improve and the rate of reproduction is hastened by proper cultural methods in improving the soil, by draining and other methods of amelioration, still larger results may be obtained.

To face p. 162.

Secondly, the object of these Reserves is to produce firewood, more especially in the neighbourhood of large towns; in fact, already in several cases, firewood plantations or Reserves have been made, such as those at Ibadan and on the sandy flats near Lagos. In these cases, trees five, seven or ten years old are large enough for that purpose, more especially of the following species, _Cassia Siamia_, or _Albizzia Brownii_.

Thirdly, to provide grazing land, more especially in the more northern part of Nigeria, where the object is to divide up the area, so that so many cattle may graze on each area in different years, or for different periods of the year, so as to give the pasture and small trees which may be growing a chance to revive and grow again. By this means the pasture is improved and made of permanent value. It is also possible under this system to undertake permanent improvements in these large pastures by a certain amount of drainage in the lower parts, and fire protection in the upper and higher parts. In this way the cattle obtain a better pasturage and reach maturity all the quicker. In times of bad season, too, some of the closed areas may be opened for pasturage, thus ensuring that the head of cattle may not be allowed to go down owing to death due to drought or lack of pasture. In this way the grazing reserve acts as a kind of insurance against loss of stock in bad seasons of no rainfall.

Fourthly, the production of oil seeds and nuts, such as the Oil Bean, _Pentaclethra macrophylla_, or the African Wood Oil-nut, _Ricinodendron Africanus_. It may also be the production of Cola nuts, which thrive in the forests in the shade, or in the partial shade, of other forest trees, and the Cacao Bean, which also, in certain localities, should stand in the partial shade of forest trees, more especially in the dry season.

Fifthly, the production of fibres, such as that from the tree known as Eso, _Firmiana Barteri_, the bark of which is used for making rope. Then there are the various creepers, such as Kakoba, _Entada scandens_, which is also used for making rope by the Hausa and Yoruba, more especially fly-switches by the Benin natives. Then there are the canes, such as Egbe, used for roofing amongst the Yorubas and Okakan, _Eremospatha sp._ (large Benin rattan), and Ikan, _Eremospatha macrocarpa_ (small Benin rattan), also used for making rope, and a kind of string which both the Benin and Jekii natives use for tying lath pieces together in house- building and in making coverings for their canoes.

Sixthly, the production of domestic articles, such as sponges, _Luffa Soudanica_, or wrapping-leaves for food, termed Ewayon by the Yorubas, or thatching laths, Ebe by the Benin natives, and the roofing canes termed Itebe by the Yorubas.

Seventhly, the production of medicinal plants, such as those for native Ju-ju; and some, such as _Cassia occidentalis_, _Cassia fistula_, also useful to Europeans.

The main difference between the beautiful, untouched existing forests and a Forest Reserve is chiefly in the matter of management. In the unreserved forests a lease may be granted for five or seven years, and the leaseholder may fell a great number of trees, such as mahogany, Iroko, etc. At the same time there is nothing to hinder the natives or original occupier or user of the land from clearing the greater part of the forest, except the protected trees, and making farms throughout the area; thus, in fact, gradually hindering, or at least reducing, the possible output of timber from that area. No new seedlings come up in these areas which are farmed, and, in fact, the fires which are made in the course of clearing the land for farming operations kill the young growth of all kinds. In reality, in a Forest Reserve there is more permanency with regard to the output of timber than in the original forest; there is, in fact, absolute permanency. Although no actual lease may be granted for a period of several years in a Forest Reserve, yet, as a matter of fact and usual experience, after a year’s working it would be quite unlikely for a Forest Department to stop the timber merchant from working the forest again, or rather from allowing him much the same number of trees as he had in the former year, because not only would the revenue from the forest suffer, but timber experience would have to be gained with another firm, which means a loss of time as well as revenue. Thus, in the ordinary way it is more satisfactory to have the same firm working in that locality year after year, provided they pay an adequate price for all the timber trees which they have. They can then invest the proper amount of capital in plant and hauling appliances, and thus make a greater profit and exploit the forest to better advantage than if a fresh firm came in year after year.

To give a more concrete idea of what these areas mean, we will take it that on the average there are only 50 trees per acre which are of some value or another, either for timber for local use or for export, and taking the average rate of fee at only 4s. per tree (it should be noted that mahogany and so on are rated at £2 16s. per tree), it will be seen that the value of these forests is in all £12,800,000. This sounds a great deal, but when it is considered what a very large number of trees can now be utilized, either locally, in the form of planks and scantlings, and joists for posts, not to speak of all the various kinds of mahogany, Iroko, walnut, ebony and other substitutes which can be used for export, it will be seen that this value is none too great; in fact, to the timber leaseholder they would be worth at least ten times as much. Of course, in this calculation all sizes of trees above a girth of 4 feet are considered, for the sake of making the valuation as complete as possible. Naturally, the smaller girth trees would not immediately be utilized, but when we are totalling up the amount of forest or wood capital involved in the valuation, it is necessary to include them and put a value on them. If the necessity arose, even they could also be utilized and would at least bring in the amount of the lowest valuation per tree.

The Forest Reserves stand also in a special position to the local people, for, after all, these Reserves formed originally part of the forest from which were supplied all the major wants of the native, such as timber, firewood, oil nuts and seeds, fibres, domestic articles and medicinal plants; therefore, whatever the main lines of protection of a good forest, the needs of the people of that locality must have the first consideration. After these wants have been fully supplied, then any surplus in the way of timber or other commercial products can be sold or exported elsewhere. This leads us to consider the fact that a Permanent Forest or Forest Reserve leads to a permanent source of revenue from that particular forest. Owing to the fact that there is the permanent yield of timber established in that area, it means that permanent money is being obtained from those trees and being brought into the Treasury as part of the permanent revenue of the country. If there is any increase, owing to the increased value of the timber trees thus gained—and the more stability there is, the better for the country—better arrangements can be made with regard to the reproduction of the forests. If there is a greater revenue being obtained from the forests, even more money can be justly expended by the Forest Department for the buying of better implements for planting and the Forest Station generally, for the making of permanent improvements in the forests, such as draining, road-making and fire protection. If these forests are not protected and unreserved, then in the course of time they must completely disappear, owing to the fact that man is so constituted that if he sees land, which may or may not be suitable for agriculture, covered with trees, he naturally thinks it would be better to cut these down and see what agricultural crop will grow there, regardless of the fact that there may already exist, or he may have cleared, fifteen times as much land as he requires for farming operations each year.

In addition to all the above, there are the indirect effects of forests, which have been considered in the section dealing with the relation between Agriculture and Forestry. On the whole, it is better for the Central Government or Federal Government to manage the Forest Reserves, as by that means there is greater impartiality in their management and more stability and continuity in the Forest policy adopted towards them. In each case, however, it is essential to have either co-opted or elected representatives of the locality, either by the chiefs or by representatives of the people, so that the wishes and needs of the locality may be thoroughly considered.

Lastly, and by no means the least important feature of the Forest Reserve, is the æsthetic view. In the regions of Permanent Forests, healthier localities are afforded for the people, and they are also prettier and more pleasant. This applies not only to temperate-zone forests, but also to tropical forests. It is a well-known fact also that where there are permanent forests the value of the other land in that locality is always rated higher, and is worth more for leasing if adequately covered with a sufficient proportion of forest.

IV. AFFORESTATION IN NIGERIA.

The Forest Department, not being content with obtaining a revenue out of the forests from the trees cut down for export or for local use, have spent and are spending several thousands of pounds each year in planting valuable forest trees. Going back historically before the time when the Forest Department had a sub-head in the estimates for “Labour for Plantations” or “Teak Plantations” or “Upkeep and Improvement of Forest Reserves,” we had the annual planting of many tens of thousands of mahogany-trees by the timber leaseholder. The whole of this was chiefly done in the Benin district of the Benin province. Although this transplanting of self-sown mahogany-trees into better situations near timber camps, or at the side of falling roads and into the spaces left by the fallen mahogany-trees, was by no means carried out very systematically or under very expert planters, the results are all the more creditable to those who so early started to reproduce the forests. It is most interesting to see in different parts on the banks of the Osse River young thrifty plantations now nearly twenty years old and nearly 30 feet high. In a similar way in the forest there are to be seen large numbers of somewhat smaller sized mahoganies growing singly or in groups, only needing a certain amount of clearing and tending to prevent their being overgrown by other forest trees. Scattered though they are throughout the forest, it is not too much to say that the prospective younger aged forest will be more valuable than that which originally stood in its place.

Easier to find, though in some way less attractive to look at, are the regularly made mahogany plantations of the Forest Department. In addition to isolated specimen trees which are found in the forest Arboretums at Calabar, Degema, Benin City and Olokemeji, several thriving plantations are found near Benin City in the Ogba and Obagie Reserves, in the Ilaro, Mamu and Olokemeji Reserves. In the last-named are the most extensive areas of all, and also, despite many failures owing to experiments on bad soil and seasons of extreme drought, the growth of the trees gives the greatest promise of mature trees, or at any rate merchantable trees, being grown in a comparatively short period. Plantations have also been made at Awka, Udi, Okwoga and Ida.

Already on the old town site of Ijaiye, mahoganies have been seen over 6 feet in girth which have grown up from self-sown seedlings within a period of about sixty years. The soil in this locality is none too good, and the rainfall on the average certainly does not exceed 50 inches per annum. Near 47 Benin villages small communal plantations of mahogany have been made.

All the mahoganies apparently, especially when grown in “pure” plantations, are attacked by a leading-shoot borer, which so weakens the leading shoot as to make it fall off, and the tree subsequently grows with two leaders. Later on this forms a large fork in the tree, which, when the time comes for felling, is by no means to be despised, forming as it does usually a very good “curl.” In other respects it is disadvantageous in reducing the length of the single straight bole. In this manner it has the effect of reducing the number of logs of long length and even shape and large size that can be obtained in one tree. In many cases, a log can be cut above from each limb forming the fork; but of course these are both much smaller than those from the bole, and are usually not nearly so straight, and one or other of the limbs is liable to be broken when the tree is felled. In the original forest only isolated trees are attacked by this leading-shoot borer, whereas in a plantation nearly all the trees suffer by its depredations.

Various species are being tried for admixture with the mahogany in order to hinder the spread of the attacks. At Olokemeji there is a mahogany plantation largely interplanted with two species of _Mimusops multinervis_ and _Mimusops Elengi_. So far this appears most suitable, as the soil is kept thoroughly covered by the dense shade cast by the Mimusops, and there is a very considerable space between each mahogany- tree. However, the mahogany grows faster than the Mimusops, so that after the first few years it does not have so much effect. Even so, it tends to keep the bole of the mahogany clean and the state of the soil in mechanical and physical condition such as to be most conducive to the growth of mahogany.

A mixture occasionally seen in nature has yet to be copied—that of mahogany and Chewstick (_Anogeissus leiocarpus_). To some extent it is seen at Olokemeji, where the self-sown seedlings have come up in a mahogany plantation, but of course they were rather too late to effect the result, i.e. protecting the mahogany from the leading-shoot borer. At Ilaro a most typical Mahogany Reserve, an isolated plantation made amongst secondary growth, has more than held its own with little or no tending after the first two years, and yet the trees overtop all the surrounding growth. In some cases, both at Olokemeji and Mamu, either self-sown or planted Iroko (_Chlorophora excelsa_) is found growing amongst the mahogany. Owing to the attacks of the coccus on the Iroko hindering its height growth, it has not had as beneficial an effect as might have been expected. Transplanting self-sown trees from an overshaded locality in the forest, where they usually first appear in a more open locality, has proved on the whole most successful. Again, transplanting self-sown seedlings scarcely one year old from an overshaded locality into one with more light has accelerated the growth of the seedlings, preventing them being killed by the excessive shade, and at much less cost has thus established a small plantation in the Benin forests.