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LEGEND

LEGEND

The following is the legend for Tables 1-3 (Social Status, Garden Sites, and Soils).


GARDENER PARTICULARS:

GDR. NO.: number assigned to individual gardeners, the sites gardened by individual men grouped together.
AGE: the estimated age group to which gardener assigned, covering the following age ranges:

<18 = <18 yrs.18 = 18 to 21 yrs.21 = 21-24 yrs.
24 = 24-27 yrs.27 = 27-30 yrs.30 = 30-35 yrs.
35 = 35-40 yrs.40 = 40-45 yrs.45 = 45-50 yrs.
>50 = >50 yrs.

KIN GROUP: this lists the semgenk group to which gardener affiliated (see Sillitoe 1979).
SOCIAL STATUS: the status group to which gardener assigned, men arranged in order of ol howma status, highest status first (see Sillitoe 1979). The last man on the list was an inadequate individual of ol dimb status.

GARDEN PARTICULARS:

TIMES CULT.: number of times site cultivated, approximately equals the number of years site under cultivation (replanting occurring about once a year):

  • 1 =1yr. (from a few weeks to about one year old);
  • 2 =2yrs. (between approximately one and two years old);and so on, up to 5 cultivations, when memories become less reliable;
  • >5 = established garden recultivated ‘several times’ (onduwp tomb), several years old;
  • >10 = long established garden recultivated ‘very many times’ (onduwp ora tomb), very many years old.

GARDEN STATUS: type of garden according to predominant crop:

  • sp = sweet potato garden (hokay em)
  • tr = taro garden (ma em)
  • mv = mixed vegetable garden (em gemb)
  • ab suffix = garden abandoned within approx. one year of survey (em mokombai)

SITE CHARACTERISTICS:

ASPECT: direction (bearing in degrees) in which garden faces.
SLOPE: the inclination of the garden surface (from the horizontal plane), recorded in degrees.
SLOPE FORM: the gross overall topography of the garden surface:

even = evensyn-form = synstepped = stp
concave = cnvanti-form = antirregular = irr
convex= cnxundulating = undrock outcrops = rko

-concave, convex and stepped describe vertical cross-sectional shape of slope;
-syn-form (= synclinal, fold/valley-like feature) and anti-form (= anticlinal, ridge-like feature) describe surface morphology from right angles to the slope.
ALT.: altitude in metres.
VEG.: vegetation covering the site prior to cultivation:

gr = grasspf = primary forest
cg = cane grass (gaimb)sf = secondary forest/tree regrowth (obael)
ct = cane grass & tree regrowthf? = forest (unclear 1y or 2y)
v suffix = virgin vegetation (imb); 1st time anyone can recall site cultivated.

SOIL DESCRIPTION:

COLOUR: subjective appraisal of topsoil colour (not using colour charts):
l.brown = light brown
d.brown = dark brown
DEPTH: topsoil horizon depth to nearest centimetre.
NO. HZNS: number of horizons observed in profile pit, to about 50 cms deep.
LOCAL CLASSIFICATION: indigenous classification of horizons, according to local soil horizon classes (see Chapter 11):

  • pm = suw pombray (dark coloured top soil)
  • pmar = suw pombray araydol (stony dark top soil)
  • papm = suw pa pombray (waterlogged dark top soil)
  • pmsh = suw pombray sha (darkish transition horizon)
  • hnsh = suw hundbiy sha (orangish transition horizon)
  • hnshar = suw hundbiy sha araydol (stony orangish transition horizon)
  • hn = suw hundbiy (orange clay sub soil)
  • hnar = suw hundbiy araydol (stony orange clay sub soil)
  • tpsh = suw tiyptiyp sha (volcanic ashy transition horizon)
  • tp = suw tiyptiyp (volcanic ash derived subsoil)
  • patn = suw pa tongom (gleyed greeny-grey subsoil)
  • ha = haen (rocks/bedrock)

– These terms may be arranged in any combination to describe overall soil profile.

SOIL NUTRIENT STATUS:

The soil nutrient analyses were conducted in the field using a Sudbury Soil Test Kit (see Sudbury 1951). All of the field methods involved shaking a small sample of soil (of a small test tubeful) with the appropriate Sudbury test solution(s) in a test tube and comparing the colour of the filtered supernatant with appropriate colour charts supplied for each of the major nutrient elements (N P & K, plus pH).

The colour charts indicate the recommended percentage of the nutrient required in any fertiliser applied to the soil. An approximate correlation between these percentage requirements and the level of nutrients in the soil, used here to transcribe the results, is as follows (data supplied by Sudbury Technical Products Ltd. pers. comm.):

Nutrient% fert. req.range of nutrient available (ppm)mid-value entered on table (ppm)
NITROGEN2%>150150
3%101-150125
4%51-10075
5%38-5044
6%26-3732
7%13-2519
8%0-126
PHOSPHORUS5%21-2523
6%16-2018
7%13-1514
8%10-1211
9%5-97
10%0-42
POTASSIUM2%405-600503
3%325-404365
4%245-324285
5%214-244229
6%183-213198
7%152-182167
8%121-151136
9%106-120113
10%91-10598
11%76-9083
12%61-7568
13%46-6053
14%31-4538
15%16-3023
16%0-158

The results are not reliable as an accurate indication of actual nutrient levels at different sites, but they indicate the magnitude of differences between sites in different men’s gardens sufficient for the purposes of this paper. The correspondence between Sudbury test results and proper laboratory analyses is only approximate, the kits being designed to help gardeners and growers grossly identify soil needs for themselves. All the tests are for ‘avaliable’ (not ‘total’) plant nutrients. Also, two of the tests only ‘indirectly’ measure for the elements, although less rigorous than laboratory tests.local assessment of soil, according to five broad classes based on local discriminations:

  • ebay ora = very good
  • ebay = good
  • ebay sha = fair
  • ebay inj or kor sha = not good
  • kor or taebogiy = barren

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