LIFE IN KENYA

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 68, 21 March 1931, Page 21

LIFE IN KENYA

NOT ALL ROSES

Farming in Konya -is just as much routine as farming in New Zealand or elsewhere, except that the "interludes" are likely to bo more startling than in a laud where there aro no locusts, eagles, or rhinoceroses. But in "A Kenyan Farm Diary" Mrs. V. M. Carnegie has1 produced a very readable and at the same time informative book. Her farm is situated about 7000 feet above the sea-level, just south of the Equator. The stand-by is sheep and cattle; butter is delivered to a township sonio distance away. Maize is grown; the irregularity of tho seasons rule out other cereal crops. Poultry, pigs, and goats aro raised, but rather as a side-line than with a view to profit. Major Carnegie, in the period covered by tho diary, was still sufferiug from the effects of war service, and it fell to Mrs. Carnegie to essay tasks, such as the supervision of the sheep, which are not usually undertaken by members of her sex. She writes in a cheerful spirit, and her sense of humour never deserts her, even in the midst of sharp disappointments. Kenya is evidently no place for pessimists or those who are easily discouraged. The unexpected constantly happens, and the ■ brightest hopes are apt to be falsified by a suddeu blow. Take, for instance, their side-line in hens. When their first big brood were safely past tho dangers of infancy and- had been protected from vermin and snakes, a large eagle appeared and reduced the numbers from one hundred to twenfy-seven in a few weeks. When it had gone and new birds bought, a inongooso got into the henrun and red mites. After an interval of immunity, badgers arrived. Steps were taken, but other wild beasts came and seized the hens. So eventually they were put into proper expensive poultryruns, and then they all stopped laying and started liver disease. The monotony and the discouragements are not concealed, nor the hostility of Africa to the settler. However, in Kenya the housewife is spared much of the drudgery. The domestic as well as the outdoor work is done by natives, who, when handled with a mixture of firmness and tact, make excellent servants.