ive got a ton more, but the are on disk. I will dig them out. but to get us rolling heres a few you might learn a few things from..... we know much more then they did then, but its still very interesting...
This one is from 1910 and called "soil fertility and permanent agriculture" read the introduction on this one I think youll be impressed. Not as advanced as we have today, but weve acquired more knowledge since then is all. I cant copy and paste it or i would.
http://www.archive.org/details/soilfertilityper00hopkiala "the farm that won't wear out" this was printed in 1913
heres a qouote from lincoln it carries
_"Population must increase rapidly, more rapidly than in former
times, and ere long the most valuable of all arts will be the
art of
deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of
soil."--Lincoln._
heres an excerpt....
IT IS an old saying that "any fool can farm," and this was almost
the truth when farming consisted chiefly in reducing the fertility
of new, rich land secured at practically no cost from a generous
Government. But to restore depleted soils to high productive power
in economic systems is no fool's job, for it requires mental as well
as muscular energy; and no apologies should be expected from those
who necessarily make use of technical terms in the discussion of
this technical subject, notwithstanding the common foolish advice
that farmers should be given a sort of "parrot" instruction in
almost baby language instead of established facts and principles in
definite and permanent scientific terms. The farmer should be as
familiar with the names of the ten essential elements of plant food
as he is with the names of his ten nearest neighbors. Safe and
permanent systems of soil improvement and preservation may come with
intelligence--never with ignorance--on the part of the landowners.
When the knowledge becomes general that food for plants is just as
necessary as food for animals, then American agriculture will mean
more than merely working the land for all that's in it. This
knowledge is as well established as the fact that the earth is
round, although the people are relatively few who understand or make
intelligent application of the existing information.>>>>>>>
http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Farm-That-Won-t-Wear-Out.html I will dig up some more... Believe it or not, excluding the
water table and its relationships we DID have permanent ag methods in the states. Many even used them, its just they got buried by industrial ag later, by government intervention not superiority of industrial ag. the folks that turned to industrial ag WERE the ones who werent doing it these ways. At the time the oldschool folks doing things as in these
books did BETTER. as I said in another
thread breeding is actually what made industrial ag better decades later, coupled with tractors and the myth that formed out of those who hurt their
land and the
boost they got from synferts, permies can breed to!!! Heck better in fact!!! and its my opinion (yes opinion) that we must!!! No im not saying
permaculture is wrong, or needs fixed, (besides that I wish theres was a permafarm movement that didnt turn off others with different values) but that it simply isnt using all its tools yet. Isnt the farming part of
permaculture about using all possible variables to adapt to a site? in balance with the site? breeding is the most probably powerful of tools at our disposal in this regard. Many of the heirloom varieties we use, yes it is important to preserve their genetics. but these are not the best we can do. not even close.
heres the coolest part... not all but many plants can be breed to our advantage without really trying!!1 this is more then mere selection from saving seeds, but purposely intermixing varieties with various traits that fit your area. Over time you select for YOUR soil, for YOUR methods. Line up the genetics to directly respond to your set up. the difference can be profound. even when you do have well adapted heirlooms, or even more modernly bred things, if you grow in such a way to always slowly bred the things this works with... well it will slowly improve just like your
permie soil!!! some things youve got to be more intensive about to breed. but many you do not.
the folks who had run their land into the ground the synfert appeared to give a boost, yet the oldschool folks kept pace with them, until
enough time passed, time forgot them. Laziness, ignorance, apathy is what lead the bulk to run their soils to death, then turn to syn ferts as a quick fix. with the boost breeding can give
permaculture, and the fact the leeches of industrial ag. have farmers on the ropes has given
permaculture a MUCH wider window to reach more of these folks. If we carry out the breeding the "green revolution" folks did, coupled wth our superior systems that are perpetual, besides possibly th GM stuff (
) industrial ag will slink away and die.....
