Experimental garden in Victoria, German Cameroon: pepper (left), vanilla (middle), nutmeg tree (right)

Botanical complexes in the colonies served as experimental gardens in which the flora of the colonies was researched and exotic plants such as coffee, cocoa, or rubber, but also European vegetable plants were cultivated. The image shows the experimental garden in Victoria (German Cameroon), where pepper, vanilla, and nutmeg trees were grown. The garden in Victoria was established in 1889 on the initiative of the first governor of German Cameroon, Julius Freiherr von Soden (1846–1921).

Experimental garden in Victoria, Cameroon: pepper on the left, vanilla in the middle, nutmeg tree on the right, black-and-white photography, 1903, photographer: Wohltmann; source: Courtesy of the Bildarchiv der Deutschen Kolonialgesellschaft, Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main, image number: 043-3048-11.