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SOCIAL STATUS, SOILS AND GARDEN SITES

SOCIAL STATUS, SOILS AND GARDEN SITES

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Explanation of the Tables

The data presented in the following tables relate to the investigation of men’s social standing and the potential productivity of the land cultivated by their households (see Chapter 11). These data, collected in a survey of gardens cultivated by a range of men of different social status,are recorded according to social standing as assessed by exchange-earned ol howma social status – age and kin group affiliation are also indicated, giving the three sociological factors for which correlations are sought between social position and natural resource use.

The productivity of the land is assessed according to a few critical site factors and measures of soil fertility (Hodgson 1974; McRae & Burnham 1981; FAO 1977). The site factors are altitude of gardens, aspect, slope, surface topography and vegetation before clearance. The soil factors are depth and colour of topsoil, number of horizons, and pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium status. The soils cover a range of the Inceptisols identified by the Wola (see Chapter 10), variably affected by falls of volcanic ash. (See Chapter 12 and Section 3 for further technical details, also Radcliffe 1986 for analytical data on similar soils in the nearby Mendi valley.)

These data were collected during the survey of 294 gardens in the Was valley of Nipa District (see Map 5.1). Altitude was measured with an aneroid altimeter, aspect with a prismatic compass, and slope with a simple protractor-mounted level. Surface topography was described according to a series of nine broad classes (such as anticline, convex slope etc. ), and the vegetation cleared at the time of cultivation was taken to be the same as that currently surrounding the garden, as verified by local people. In each garden surveyed a soil profile pit was dug and the depth of topsoil measured and the number of horizons recorded; those assistingin the work also identified the horizons present and I noted the indigenous classification (see Chapter 10). The colour of the topsoil was assessed subjectively, not using Munsell charts, according to one of four gross classes: black, dark brown, brown or light brown (while not scientifically accurate the results are sufficient for the trends sought here).

A composite sample of topsoil was collected by gathering ten or more handfuls of soil at random across garden sites, for bulking together and field analysis of nutrients using a Sudbury soil test kit. The Sudbury soil test kit is intended to help farmers and horticulturalists assess soil fertiliser needs. It tests for ‘available’ , not total plant nutrients, and the results are related to recommended fertiliser applications (Sudbury 1951; Sudbury Technical Products Ltd. pers. comm.). While these field tests are considerably less accurate than laboratory analyses of soil fertility and can only be approximately correlated with them over a range ofvalues, they indicate relative differences in fertility between sites sufficient for this chapter’s purposes. Those present during the suvey were also asked to assess the agricultural worth of the soil, according to one of five classes, from very good through to barren. The familiarity of the Wola with such ranking exercises, who use a series of adjectival markers to indicate gradations, has been noted previously. A similar ranking order was used in the assessment of men’s social standing, taken up later. In assessing soil worth, the following classes were used: suw ebayda (lit. soil good-very), suw ebay (lit. soil good), suw ora (lit. soil only – i.e. average soil), suw kor(lit. soil bad), and suw taebogiy (lit. soil barren).

The following links go directly to the Tables. The legend to the tables is given separately.

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