In the Lokoja forest reserve, about a hundred acres of _Funtumia elastica_ were planted in 1906, but these have not succeeded as well as was originally expected, owing, probably, to want of moisture. A few Ceara and even Hevea plants, have been grown at Zungeru and Baro, but, as yet, no plantations have been made. =SHEA NUTS.=—The shea nut is the seed or kernel contained in the green fruit borne by _Butyrospermum Parkii_, called locally “Kadainya.” The fruit, which ripens about May, is of variable size, from that of a pigeon’s egg to as large as a hen’s egg where only one nut is contained, but is nearly twice the size where two nuts are present in the same fruit. The fleshy rind is not more than one-sixth of an inch in thickness, is sweet to the taste, and contains a white latex, which coagulates into a product called “gutta-shea.” The natives in some places seem to regard the fruit as a delicacy, and the roads and paths, in districts where the tree is plentiful, are strewn with the nuts which have been thrown away after the fruit portions have been eaten. The nut is quite smooth, and is readily separated from the fleshy part. The butter, which is extracted by the natives, is appreciated less than palm oil or groundnut oil for cooking, but is used as a substitute. In Europe the kernels as well as the extracted “butter” are employed, especially on the Continent, for the manufacture of vegetable butter and in candle factories. In some places the fruits are collected and put in heaps, until the fleshy parts have decomposed and left the nuts clean, after which the kernels are extracted, dried in earthen stoves, and pounded or ground into a fine flour. This is then pounded again, with the addition of a little water, previous to being mixed in hot water to separate the fat. The latter rises to the surface and solidifies on cooling, being melted again for clarification by skimming previous to being poured into moulds made from plantain leaves or maize-cob sheaths. In this form it is sold for export, and is then known as “shea-butter.” An illustration is given (Fig. 28) of some Shea nut collectors resting beneath a Shea tree in the Ilorin Province. [Illustration: SHEA-BUTTER TREE (_BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII_), WITH NUT-COLLECTORS, ILORIN. Fig. 28, p. 130.] [Illustration: YIELDING GUM TREE (_ACACIA CAFFRA_) AT KONTAGORA. Fig. 29, p. 131.] [Illustration: LOCUST-BEAN TREE (_PARKIA FILICOIDEA_) AT ILORIN. Fig. 30, p. 162.] According to results obtained at the Imperial Institute (_Bulletin of the Imperial Institute_, 1908, p. 370; 1912, p. 290), the kernels contain from 40 to 50 per cent. of fat, as well as a small quantity of unsaponifiable matter resembling gutta-shea.