Two crops of fruiting heads are yielded by a tree in full bearing each year, but the autumn crop is heavier than the earlier one, and the aggregate weight of fruit yielded by a tree in one year is generally estimated at 40 lbs. The fruiting heads consist of large bunches which hang from near the crown of the tree, and each fruit is partly enveloped in a husk-like covering. When removed from this it is found to be smooth, somewhat conical or irregularly compressed, tapering towards an abrupt point. The colour when fresh varies from orange-red to nearly white, with a more or less broad black apex. In section it appears to be composed of a thick fibrous layer over a hard, somewhat rounded stone, which contains a whitish kernel. It is from the fibrous portion, which is included in what is botanically termed the pericarp, that the oil is obtained, but the kernel also contains another valuable oil, for the extraction of which it is shipped to Europe to a large extent. =Preparation of Palm Oil.=—When the ripe head has been cut from the tree, it is left upon the ground for a few days in order that a shrinkage in the fruits may occur, which renders them more easily dislodged from their husk-lined places. The fruit also becomes slightly dull in colour. The heads bearing the fruit are often beaten to remove the latter, or they are individually broken out by hand. In order to facilitate the extraction of the fruit kernels, the fruits are usually buried in the ground in a pit lined with plantain leaves. Here they remain for from three weeks to a month, during which time decomposition is set up. The subsequent quality of the oil is dependent upon the degree to which this is allowed to proceed, rancid and thick oils resulting when it has been overdone. On the other hand, the higher the state of decomposition the greater is the facility for separating the fibrous pulp from the stones. On removing the fruits from the ground they are placed in an open vat (Fig. 15) and pounded by a number of people using long poles, after which they are covered up for several hours in order that the oil may drain into the small well shown at the side. Several consecutive poundings are applied, until the fibrous pulp is quite separated and most of the oil has drained out, after which the stones are combed out with the fingers, and the pulp is placed in a bag and pressed on a horizontal bar until the oil flows from it into a pit below. The oils from these extractions are boiled and cleared, and the residual pulp is often placed in the boiling pot so as to extract as much oil as possible. This is the method employed at the Krobo Plantations, but the operation varies slightly in different districts.