Saturday, September 26, 2009

Stop digging?

The latest idea for saving the environment, one of our ministers thinks, is to stop ploughing. My immediate reaction to the news was the same as that of other people I guess, Is that the agricultural equivalent of political correctness gorn mad?

But no, it seems very sensible, almost in a Why did we not think of that before? kind of way

Well partly we did not abandon ploughing because it is difficult to do without modern technology. The lovely, lovely horse is hardly capable of precision engineering & soils are an engineering problem as much as an agronomic one.

Soil is a very important store of carbon, so the less disturbance the better – though I cannot help wondering if carbon release is a major contributor to the gorgeous smell of freshly ploughed loam – I shall be sorry if the new methods mean we are to lose that.

Archaeologists will also worry that it will put an end to the kind of – sometimes very exciting – finds of buried treasure brought back to the surface after ploughing.

But on the plus side – especially for the more aged among us – it is a good excuse for not digging the garden

*****


From The Diary of Lady Frederick Cavendish:

28Sep1867, The New Steam-Plough

HOLKER, September 28th, 1867.—Walked to see the new steam-plough, which did remind me vividly of Tennyson's old farmer's description : "Huzzin and maazin the blessed fealds wi' the divil's own teàm." However, in spite of a hitch or two, it did manage to do 4 deep furrows at a time, which no doubt is striking.
*****

Sir, A 13-year-old girl beating 40 experienced farmers to first place in a ploughing competition after only four hours’ practice (report, Oct 6) is a perfect example of sod’s law.
Peter Sergeant, Loughborough, Leics
07 October 2009 The Times

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