CAB129-37 — Page 152

Page.152 of 1097 104. The depth ranges widely, but over wide areas is sufficient for arable agricultural purposes.

105. The lower lying alluvial soils tend to become either water-logged or highly saturated with water during periods of heavy rain; they thus set particular hazards for agricultural development.

106. The type of country at Urambo is quite different from that of Kongwa, being thickly-wooded forest. The clearance of this forest was hampered, not only by the difficulty of bringing down the fairly large trees, but also by the special difficulties of rooting. After experiment, the chain cable method of clearing was adopted. During dry weather, however, many trees, instead of coming out by the roots, snapped off at ground level or above, and the special difficulty remained of grubbing out the roots.

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107. Mechanical equipment for stumping was limited, and this was the governing factor in the rate of clearance of forest and the preparation of the soil for agricultural purposes.

108. The following table gives the clearing figures for the twelve months up to the end of March 1949:-

-

Acreage flattened

Piled and burned

Stumped and rooted Completed

11,027 acres

...

...

5,803 acres

3,524 acres

4,066 acres

109. The chain cable method of flattening brought the rate for that operation during the wet season up to 1.43 acres per tractor hour, instead of .61 acres per tractor hour by the old method.

110. At Urambo at the beginning of the year there were 115 heavy tractors in the Region, of which 8 only were serviceable. At the end of March 1949 the number of tractors had increased to 122, of which 76 were serviceable and in daily use.

Agriculture

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111. By the end of the planting season, the "drill" was so well evolved that the planting machines were on the heels of the levellers (carrying out the final clearing operation), and were working in the same field. In one field, ground which in January was virgin forest, was in March fully sown with a crop.

112. Agricultural equipment was used throughout in the following sequence:

Groundnuts One-way disc

Planter

Sunflowers One-way disc Drill

Maize One-way disc Planter

Cultivator

Digger and

side rake

113. Experience this year shows that two types of groundnuts, Natal Common and Valencia, both of which are rapidly maturing varieties, are not best suited to Urambo. Asiriya Mwitunde, a variety grown with some success by local Africans, and which is long maturing, has been selected for future planting.

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