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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Cyril Hopkins

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Cyril Hopkins
  • Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 10:39:08 -0600

I don't think that "understood" adequately expresses the situation.  Previous generations did not have the visibility regarding the negative effects of agriculture, nor the scientific understanding of soil microorganisms' relationships to the overall ecology.  It would be wrong to dismiss science because it has been so often misused in the past.
 
The conclusions may be similar, but the underlying understandings are considerably advanced in current literature.  For me, the best examples are relatively new understandings about the relationships between bacterial-dominance for annuals and grasses, vs. fungal-dominance for trees and perennials, as well as the carbon sequestration capability of fungi.  There are ramifications to our agricultural choices resulting from these new scientific observations.  The recent posting "Lessons from the Land Institute" is an example.  Agriculture evolved for 10,000 years based on annual crops (for good reasons - read Guns, Germs and Steel ), but those are not the best crops for long-term sustainability.  The ability to do something about that is new science.
 
E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.biz
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 9:27 AM
Subject: [Livingontheland] Cyril Hopkins


Going through Eliot Coleman's New Organic Grower, I see a point that needs
repeating:  "The ideal of sustainable soil fertility has been understod for
ages and expressed by many writers". Coleman reminds us that ideas about
sustainability are not new. All the new books and websites about
sustainable agriculture ultimately come from writers and farmers practicing
methods that worked down through the ages. And all agriculture before the
20th century was organic, though not always practiced sustainably. We can
improve materials and methods and always learn more, but we don't have to
reinvent the wheel.

Coleman brings up Cyril Hopkins of Illinois in the early 20th century.
Hopkins' book used starts about $70, so I located it online at Cornell.
Might be worth printing out.

Soil fertility and permanent agriculture, Hopkins, Cyril G, 1910
http://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=chla;idno=3057996


paul tradingpost@lobo.net



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