PLANT INDUSTRY 407 



original process was adapted to local conditions, and in 1934 had 

 become part of the normal routine (Northern Rhodesia 1934, 

 D.R.). Tests on the compost carried out at Amani showed a 

 deficiency of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and it was thought 

 that subsequent analyses might point to a revision of manufac- 

 turing methods. Since the heat occasioned by the composting 

 process normally kills the seeds of weeds, the resulting material has 

 an added advantage over farmyard manure. Experiments have 

 also been carried out at the Morogoro experimental station in Tan- 

 ganyika. The materials used included khus-khus grass, maize and 

 sorghum stover and cotton seed (Tanganyika, Agriculture, 1934, 

 D.R.). In Uganda, which is geographically situated so far inland 

 that the cost of importing artificial fertilizers is prohibitive, a 

 committee is endeavouring to find some practical method of utiliz- 

 ing the large quantities of cotton seed which hitherto have been 

 destroyed at ginneries too far from a railhead to make export 

 profitable. The seeds are so rich in oil that some local use must 

 be found for the oil if the remainder of the seed is to be turned into 

 compost, or alternatively it is suggested that the whole cotton seed 

 would be more use if converted into feed-cake for stock. Mean- 

 while on European-owned estates in Uganda the maintenance of 

 fertility seems to have been ensured for annual crops by suitable 

 rest periods and sensible rotations. For coffee, grass mulch has 

 solved the problem in areas where supplies can be obtained within 

 reasonable distance, and there is always the possibility of com- 

 bining cattle raising with coffee culture, as adopted with success 

 on one estate. In Nyasaland the Tobacco Association has a special 

 fertilizers sub-committee. Compost is already prepared on a 

 considerable scale at Zomba (Nyasaland 1936, D.R.). 



Fertilizers cannot be produced from local materials in sufficient 

 quantity for use on the scale which the soil requires, and the Euro- 

 pean farming community in East Africa must continue to depend 

 on imported fertilizers, especially from the phosphatic deposits of 

 North Africa. 



Before 1926, when Sir John Orr's report drew attention to the 

 mineral deficiencies of the soils and pastures of the Kenya high- 

 lands, the import of fertilizers to Kenya was negligible. From 

 1927 to 1929 they amounted to the total of 2,000 tons. Almost all 



