The obstacles which hindered the development of cotton-growing in the Gambia for export were the same as those experienced in Sierra Leone. The local demand for raw cotton precluded it from being obtained at a sufficiently low price to leave a margin of profit to exporters, and in addition to this, labour was not sufficiently abundant, nor were the natives familiar with labour-saving methods in cultivation. Attempts to establish an interest in the matter produced a fair amount of raw cotton in 1904, but since that year the exported quantity rapidly diminished and has now ceased altogether. For reports on the quality of the cotton produced in the Gambia see Professor Dunstan’s _British Cotton Cultivation_ (Colonial Reports—Miscellaneous Series, Cd. 3997, 1908), p. 26, and _Bull. Imp. Inst._, 1921. Samples may be seen in the Imperial Institute Collections. =GRAIN CROPS.=—No grain is exported, as owing to the work of the scanty population being so largely applied to the cultivation of groundnuts, scarcely sufficient food-stuff is grown for their own requirements. Guinea-corn (_Sorghum vulgare_), the two most important varieties of which are known as “Bassi” and “Kinto” in the Mandingo language, are commonly used for food, but during recent years, owing to the repeated annual attacks on the crop by _Aphis sorghi_, maize-growing was substituted in some parts of the country. White maize seed was obtained from Lagos, and yellow maize seed from the Canary Islands, but the grain is not appreciated to the same extent as Guinea corn. _Pennisetum typhoideum_, the large millet, of which the commonest variety is known in Mandingo as “Sannio,” is alternated with Guinea corn or maize, but is often badly affected by a “smut fungus” (_Ustilago sp._), which also attacks the “Kinto” variety of Guinea corn. A small grass is often grown in the millet fields, yielding a crop of fine seed which is made into flour for the preparation of a kind of porridge. This is termed “Findi” locally. Rice (_Oryza sativa_) is somewhat extensively grown in the swamp lands, but the success of the crop is very largely dependent on the distribution of the rainfall. Whole tracts of rice fields are destroyed in some years, owing to excessive floods, as no precautions are taken to guard against them. It is chiefly on account of the uncertainty of the grain crops, that a large quantity of rice has to be imported annually to supplement that produced in the country. These imports often amount to six or seven thousand tons. [Illustration: FRUITS OF OIL PALMS, SIERRA LEONE. Fig. 9, p. 21.] [Illustration: SWEET CASSAVA, WITH BAOBAB TREES, BAKAU. Fig. 7, p. 13.] [Illustration: INDIGO DYERS, McCARTHY ISLAND. Fig. 8, p. 13.]