406 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



might obtain considerable supplies cheaply for some time to come. 



The most hopeful outlook for making manure available on 

 estates in Eastern Africa, seems to be the utilization of waste pro- 

 ducts of agriculture by the Indore process [see pp. 386-388). This 

 has been tried in the tea, coffee, maize, sisal, and other plantation 

 industries of Kenya and Tanganyika. One drawback is that the 

 original method was devised for peasant cultivators in India, and 

 when tried on a large scale, only those who practise mixed farm- 

 ing are able to obtain sufficient animal waste to be mixed with the 

 vegetable material. This has been pointed out by Mr. V. A. 

 Beckley, the Kenya agricultural chemist (1934a and b). Attempts 

 have been made by Major E. S. Grogan at the Kingatori Estate 

 near Kiambu in Kenya, to work out a cycle which will be indepen- 

 dent of the animal link by means of using a fungus. The high lime 

 and phosphate content of the soil and the presence of quick-grow- 

 ing indigenous legumes in this area will, it is hoped, make such a 

 method practicable. Another disadvantage is that the arable soils 

 in many parts of Kenya are definitely acid, whereas at Indore they 

 are alkaline and carry a fair amount of calcium carbonate. There- 

 fore in the original process soil was added to neutralize acids pro- 

 duced in manufacturing the compost, but in Kenya the addition 

 of some base-supplying mineral such as rock-phosphate seems to 

 be essential. In spite of these difficulties, a modified process is 

 being evolved in Kenya, and the results are so far encouraging 

 (Beckley 1934a). 



Another application of the Indore process was made in Kenya 

 in 1934-5, when a factory owned by the Express Transport Com- 

 pany was started at Nairobi for converting town wastes such as 

 bone, horn, and hoof residues, animal manure, cotton seeds, chaff, 

 wood, and tannery waste into manure. When necessary, the 

 materials were finely ground before being mechanically mixed, 

 and then were composted in pits according to the Indore process. 

 In ninety days a humus was obtained, and produced excellent 

 results on controlled experimental plots of flowers, vegetables, 

 maize, grassland, and coffee. The oxygen supply presents diffi- 

 culties here, and the use of compressed air was suggested by Sir 

 .Albert Howard (1935). 



At the Abercorn agricultural station in Northern Rhodesia the 



