Browsing by Author "Halcrow, M."
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Item Experimental work on pastures in the Trans Nzoia District, Kenya Colony, 1935-36(1937) Halcrow, M.; Department of Agriculture, Kenya ColonyIn many parts of Kenya, including the arable or mixed farming areas, the natural veldt grasses are often coarse and of rather low carrying capacity. The species present are the survivors of the unfavourable treatment which has been accorded to the pasturage by irregular grazing and by the frequent destruction of the herbage in the dry seasons by grass fires, which cause the more delicate (and usually more palatable) species to disappear.Item Pasture Problems in the Trans Nzoia(1938) Halcrow, M.; A.I.C.T.A., Department of Agriculture, Kenya ColonyThe most obvious feature of the pasture of the Trans Nzoia is its superabundance during the rains and its comparative scarcity during the dry season. This state of affairs is of little consequence on the completely mechanized farm; and it is only during particularly severe dry seasons that it assumes much importance on ox-cultivated maize farms. But the advent of mixed farming, and particularly dairying, has made it a problem that calls for immediate attention. The grasses mostly present in the Trans Nzoia are Themeda triandra (Red Oat Grass) and Hyparrhenia sp., with Trichopterix sp. commonly as a bottom grass. The grazing is sweet at the beginning of the season, that is from March to June. In June, however, the Hyparrhenia shoots up its flowering spikes to three feet or more, with the result that the herbage rapidly assumes the character of a small grains stubble. The tall spikes are hard and unpalatable, and naturally stock prefer to walk through them with an eye to possible patches of low-growing couch grass or other more succulent herbage, like that frequently found on roadsides and under shady trees. This brings about a considerable reduction in the carrying capacity during the rains. Thereafter, the carrying capacity is still further reduced, because the grasses, while they are able to survive the dry season, make little or no growth during this period. In truth, land occupied by the tall grass species has a very short period of usefulness. The tall spikes ultimately fall or are trampled down to form a close mulch of decaying straw, through which only the coarse, vigorous grasses (from which the mulch is derived in the first place) are able to make new growth. The finer bottom grasses are smothered. The tall species are, in the young state, palatabl:, enough for stock, but as already mentioned they run to seed too rapidly and have a low proportion of leaf to stem. The native habit of putting a fire through the pasture as soon as it is dry enough has the advantage of enabling the stock to eat off the young shoots as they appear; whereas, if burning is avoided and the old dry fog is left, the shoots are comparatively old by the time they get through it. Unfortunately, burning has the same effect on the bottom grasses as fog; only the tall, coarse species appear to survive the fire. There is no doubt that complete control of the pasturage in all its stages is desirable; it is the best rr ethod that requires elucidation. There would appear to be three ways of attaining controlled pasturage. The most obvious way is by means of a grass mowing machine. This has the advantage not only of controlling the pasturage from the grazing point of view, but also of providing hay fodder for use during the dry season. It has been found that mowing is best employed in conjunction with the second method, namely paddocking, to enable severe grazing during the period March to June. Theoretically, this second way by itself is ideal, but in practice such heavy grazing is required, so rapid is the growth, that the actual area controlled is almost negligible. The numbers of stock required to control all the grazing in this way would be much in excess of its dry season capacity, even with the provision of supplements, so that to employ this method alone is out of the question. Experience is showing that closeItem Soya Bean Bread: A Recipe for the Home Baker(1939) Halcrow, M.The soya bean has been a staple food in the east for centuries, but only recently has it come to be known as a useful food product to the white civilization of the west.
