Horticulture
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Item Passion Fruit Products(1936) Poore, H.DAnalyses are reported of the juice.seeds and shell of the passion fruit. A machine is described for separating the juice from the pulp. The results of preserving the juice by freezing pasteurizing. and concentrating are given. and also methods for making carbonated drinks. jellies and sirups. The composition of an edible oil pressed from the seeds is given.Item Notes on the Cultivation of Passion Fruit in Kenya(1937) Wolryche, J.E.A; Rongai, Kenya ColonyAt a time when large number of farmers are considering planting passion fruits, it may be as well to point out a few of the things to be avoided. The company which I am be connected with first started putting in passion fruits about four years ago in the Trans Nzoia, and since then we have learn by experience some some of the snags that can be avoided. Conditions in Kenya certainly appear admirable for the growth of passiflorine edulis, if one judges by the way uncared -for vines ramp all over the place and produced heaps of fruits; but plantation conditions are different, and it does not necessarily follow that the vines will do equally well.Item A Note on the Rooting of Derris Cuttings by a Root-Promoting Substance(1938) Glover,J.; East African Agricultural Research Station, AmaniThe experiment was designed to test whether the root-promoting substance beta-indole-acetic acid would produce an increased rooting response in'the already easily rooted cuttings of Derris and if such a response could be easily detested. The material used in the experiment was obtained from the Amani strain of Derris elliptica plants. As the plants were reproduced vegetatively from cutting's of a single plant at Kew they may be considered to be a clonal variety. The cuttings, all from healthy plants, were selected for their uniformity of length and thickness. There were three nodes on each. Of the 700 cuttings used, 350 were treated by immersing their basal inch for 24 hours in a 1/20,000 solution of betaindole-acetic acid in distilled water; the 350 control cuttings were similarly treated with distilled water only. The cuttings were arranged in randomized plots, fifty in each. The plots were arranged in seven blocks to facilitate analysis of the results for possible variation in rooting response due to the position of the plots in the propagating bed. After two months in the nursery bed the cuttings were carefully excavated and the number and lengths of the roots on each cutting were recorded. The results, when analysed for inherent variability and error due to position in the nursery bed, are given in the TableItem Kapok(1938) Greenway, P.J.; East African Agricultural Research Station, Amani.Certain trees in the genus Ceiba (Bom- Terbacaceae) produce fruits containing a mass of fine hairs (floss), which' arise from the wall 'of the capsules and have the seeds buried in their midst. These hairs, which' in nature assist in the distribution of the seeds, are known commercially as "Kapok" or "Silk. Cotton and are used for stuffing cushions, pillows, mattresses and similar articles. The hairs are cylindrical, form 6 to 1.2 inches long, formed of cells full of air, impermeable to moisture and extremely buoyant. For this reason a second important use for kapok is in the manufacture of buoys, life-belts and lifesaving jackets. Kapok textiles are not strong and yarns made from it are not able to with stand strains: owing to their non –conducting character they might however, be employed as an interlining in warm clothingItem A Note on the Rooting of Derris Cuttings by a Root-Promoting Substance(1938) Glover, J.The experiment was designed to test whether the root-promoting substance beta-indole-acetic acid would produce an increased rooting response in the already easily rooted cuttings of Derris and if such a response could be easily deteded. The material used in the experiment was obtained from the Amani strain\ of Derris elliptica plants. As the plants were reproduced vegetative from cuttings of a single plant at Kew they may be considered to be a clonal variety. The cuttings, all from healthy plants, were selected for their uniformity of length and thickness. There were three nodes Ion each. Of the 700 cuttings used, 350 were treated by immersing their basal inch for 24 hours in a 1/ 20,000 solution of betaindole- acetic acid in distilled water; the 350 control cuttings were similarly treated with distilled water only. The cuttings were arranged in randomized plots, fifty in each. The plots were arranged in seven blocks to facilitate analysis of the results for possible variation in rooting response due to the position of the plots in the propagating bed.Item Current Notes(1938)Woodiness" has been observed in the majority of established plantations in the Trans Nzoia and Sotik, and it gives every indication of becoming the Kenya producers biggest problem. There is no "cure" for the disease, and therefore it behaves planters to take every possible step to prevent its introduction. "Woodiness" is caused by a virus and, apart from the well-known woody, misshapen fruits, is characterized by the usual symptoms of virus disease. Anyone acquainted with virus' in potatoes will have no difficulty in recognizing infected vines even in the absence of woody fruits. The leaves, particularly in the region of the terminal shoots, are generally smaller than usual and twisted or puckered; also there is a pale mottling in the normal green colour of the leaves. These foliage symptoms can be recognized in seedlings. It is essential in the first place to select seed from old healthy vines and thereafter to carry out a rigorous inspection of the seedlings in the nursery. Infected plants must be removed immediately; this must be done weeks rest before replanting a selected healthy seedling. This note is intended to warn prospective passion fruit growers that the control of "woodiness" must begin before the vines are planted out.Item Marketing Aspects of Derris and of its Chief Competitor, Cube Root(1939) Georgi, C.D.V; Department of Agriculture MalayaA large amount of selection work onderris has been carried out in recent years by the Department with the object of developing strains of plants with roots of a high toxic content, thereby eliminating to a large extent the variability in quality of commercial consignments of root.Item The mountain pawpaw (Carica candamarcensis)(1939) Elmer, L. A.As many people do not know this easily grown fruit and some who know it do not know how to use it, the following note may be of use in making it popular. It should be borne in mind that it is a fruit which should be cooked. A case is known to the writer where trees in bearing have been rooted out because their owner disliked the fruits. He had tried eating them raw; later, eating the cooked fruits, he regretted not having learnt how they should be prepared.Item Derris or Tuba Root(1940) Worsley, R. R.Derris root is one of the most powerful insecticides known, but is harmless to man and animals. It does not possess the rapid "knockout “power of pyrethrum, but weight for weight its eventual killing power is greater. It is finding increased commercial use in household sprays (mixed with pyrethrum), in fruit sprays, and in cattle dips; the powdered root is also much used for dusting purposes.Item Passion Fruit Growing in Queensland(1940) Barnes, H.; Wills, J. M.Readers who studied the New South Wales Farmers' Bulletin No. 169 may have thought that there was little more to be said on the cultivation of "passions," but Barnes and Will shave produced a masterly and eminently practical treatise for Queensland growers. On fundamentals, the two accounts are much in agreement, except that Queensland favours the horizontal trellis while New South Wales considers the vertical to be the more suitableItem The production of field plants of the clove Tree.(1940) Wigg, L.G.T.The paper describes the nursery methods used in the production of clove plants from selected seed for sale to growers in Zanzibar. The method produces a greatly improved plant in comparison with the self-sown seedlings which are commonly employed. The fruit is collected from under the selected tree at regular intervals, the ground being swept after each collection. The fruits are soaked for 2 or 3 days in water to remove the outer flesh and assist germination. The single seed (rarely two) then disclosed consists of two large green cotyledons and a well-developed radicle. Desirable characters for selection are described, the chief of these being that the cotyledons should be of a fresh olive green colour and not reddish, and the radicle should not be blackened. The weight of good seed is about 400 to the pound. Rigorous selection rejects about 48% and should ensure a germination of about 96% from the remainder. Seed beds are prepared some time in advance and the fine tilth maintained by a thick litter of old leaves. Removable overhead shade is provided 7 feet above the bed. When sowing the litter is raked off and a bed marked with a band drill roller in lines 8 inches apart. Over these lines a batten provided with pegs 4 inches apart is pressed and in the holes so formed the seed is placed radicle downwards, half the seed extruding. The litter is then replaced without further covering with soil. Seed inserted in other than the correct position produces contorted plants. As the seeds germinate they are freed by the drawing back of the litter, which, however, must remain on the beds. The first pair of leaves should have expanded in a month from sowing. Transplanting to nursery rows is done when the seedlings are 2-3 months old. The ball of earth must be left on the roots but long main roots may be reduced. A month or two before the plants leave the nursery for the field they are again lifted, the ball of soil wrapped in banana leaves (failing a more satisfactory material) and the plants stood under shade close together for mutual support. This results in the production of many turgid white roots. The need for the ball of soil creates a serious problem for the nursery for, as the authors point out, a nursery distributing 40-50, 000 plants a year would at the same time distribute about 200 tons of its best soil. Experiments with bare root planting on a field scale have been unsuccessful, though bare root plants pre-treated as above have been established in sterile sand for pot culture experiments without any sign of shock.Item Prickly Pear ("Cactus") In South Kavirondo(1940/1941) Sunman,W.OIt is of interest finally to recall that although the local people realized the disadvantages of prickly pear and the menace of its spread, it needed the encouragement of Government to bring them to do something about it. Once this encouragement was given, however, the whole of the work has been done by the people themselves under the direction of their chief.Item Drying of Vegetables(1941) Beckley, V.AThe transport of fresh vegetables to troops in the forward areas of Eastern Africa is an almost insuperable problem. Fresh vegetables are bulky and rapidly deteriorate, especially when roughly handled, as certainly they would be on the rough roads of the hitherto road less zones. Canned vegetables get over the difficulty of spoilage, but they too are very bulky a ton of fresh cabbage after canning weighs 4,500 lb. The production of dried vegetables in Kenya as a food supply for the troops was given us as a problem for immediate solution.Item Pineapple Culture in Queensland(1941) East African Agricultural And Forestry JournalA series of articles of considerable importance to those engaged in the cultivation of the pineapple and in pineapple canning is to be found in the July, August and December, 1939, and January, March and July, 1940, numbers of the Queensland Agricultural Journal.Item Pineapple experiments in Zanzibar(1942) Briant, A. K.; Tidbury, G. E.In a previous report* covering the first and second harvesting seasons, the results of a" manurial and a spacing trial on pineapples, conducted at the Kizimbani Experiment Station, were described. The results of the third and fourth harvesting seasons of these trials are now available and the present article reviews the findings over the four-year period. One of the aims of the experimental programme on pineapples being carried out at Kizimbani is to study methods whereby pineapples can be grown in continual cultivation On the same land. This kind of cultivation markedly, influences experimental results from two main causes. Firstly, the stimulating effect of a treatment which produced a heavy harvest is followed in the next year by an adverse effect in that more of the plants which received the treatment become" ratoons" than do those in the non-treated areas and the" ratoon" plants do not bear so well in the second year as original plants which have not yet fruited. Care must be taken therefore in distinguishing between a treatment effect which is merely hastening the harvest and the more valuable effect of both hastening and increasing the harvest. The second cause is that yield apparently diminishes with continued ratooning, apart from the effects of soil exhaustion. The manner in which repeated cropping produces this result is not yet clearly understood, but the habit of growth of the plant may afford a tentative explanation. Each ratooning sucker becomes progressively further detached from the soil as suckers sprout from the axils of the parent plant and frequently become recumbent under the weight of their fruit. After a few years it becomes necessary to remove all the old root bases and reset the last generation of suckers firmly in the soil. This, apparently, has a stimulating effect on fruit (yield, number and total weight), although if the majority of suckers are replanted in the plot the effect may be similar to the establishmentItem Vegetable, Seed Growing in East Africa(1942) Hill, A.G.G.; East African Agricultural Research InstituteThe main sources of our vegetable seed supplies in the past, Europe and America, having become uncertain and seed expensive, the question now arises whether we can produce our own seed, thus ensuring future supplies and at the same time reducing imports. This is a difficult question to answer, for information on the raising of European vegetable seeds in the tropics is extremely meagre and no fresh information of apy account has come to hand since that published in this Journal in May, 1940. There is no doubt of our ability to produce seed of beans, peas, lettuce and tomatoes, but can we produce seed of beet, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, parsnip, onion and turnip? Vegetable seed growing on a large scale is not an undertaking to be entered upon lightly for it is a specialized business requiring particular knowledge and skill, it has become specialized and localized to such an extent abroad that certain districts, where soil and climate have been found particularly favourable, were, until recently, relied upon to supply requirements almost throughout the world, it is unlikely that any one district of East Africa will be found suitable for seed production of more than a few kinds of European vegetables, but this can only be determined by experiment. A good seed-growing district usually has a cool sunny climate and low total annual rainfall but plenty of moisture during the growing season. Certain parts of the East African highlands would fulfil these conditions, but it is doubtful whether our temperatures are sufficiently low to stimulate flowering in some of the Brassicas, one of the most important groups of European vegetables. Again, certain crops, such as the onion, require a definite minimum length of daylight to bring them to maturity. This period varies with the variety, and although the Bombay type of onion will seed in parts of East Africa, it is doubtful whether other varieties will do so. But against these drawbacks it may be found that East Africa has certain, advantages over temperate regions.Item A method of handling trays in Ainabkoi Pyrethrum driers(1943) Gilbert, W.In No.6 of Vol. V of the Journal there was published an article by the writer describing a semi-automatic method of removing, when its flowers were dry, the lowest tray in the Ainabkoi type pyrethrum drier, in order to save the considerable labour of taking out each tray of the stack individually by hand and replacing it in lower position, or, in the case of the 'Colquhoum' arrangement, of the attendant having to go round to the back of the drier to raise and lower the far end of the stack of trays.Item Some Uganda Vegetables(1943) Purseglove, J.W.; Uganda ProtectorateThere is at present a marked shortage of vegetables in East Africa caused by the large increase in European population, the prolonged import, drought and the difficulty of importing European vegetable seeds. Greater use could be made of native spinaches and pot-herbs many of which occur as common weeds and provide a palatable addition to the European menu. Even in normal times the maintenance of a steady supply of fresh green vegetables is often a difficult problem, especially when on safari.Item Cultivation of Papaw and Production of Papain(1943/1944) Sanders, F.R.Papain is a product obtained from the pawpaw or papaya (Carica papaya L). Ceylon and adjacent countries are the most important producers of papain, although some is produced in the West Indies, particularly in Jamaica and Trinidad, while in recent years the production of this article has been taken up in Tanganyika, chiefly in the Northern Province. Much of the production from the West Indies was shipped to the United States, which in prewar years also imported considerable quantities from Japan (26,000 lb. in 1939). The bulk of the papain produced in Ceylon is marketed in Europe.Item Composition and Nutritive Value of Pulp and Seeds in the Fruit of the Baobab(1943/1944) French, M.HThe baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) is found growing over a large proportion of the Africa continent, and is a characteristic feature of the landscape of much of this Territory. The fruit of the baobab varies somewhat in shape but is usually oblong, or marrow' shaped, and up to a foot in length and about four inches in diameter.
