Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (4.1980/1983)

Fig. i. Harrowing a large rice-field in the plain near Tjampea West of Bogor.
Eggen eines groEen Reisfeldes in der Ebene in der Nahe von Tjampea westlich von Bogor.


OBSERVATIONS ON TOOLS OF
HUSBANDRY IN WESTERN JAVA
By
Axel Steensberg

The island of Java is known for its active
volcanoes, its tropical climate and its abun-
dant precipitation as well as for being one of
the most densely populated lands in the
world. There is a close interrelationship be-
tween these factors, just as there is an evi-
dent correlation between the geographical

distribution of young volcanic basic mate-
rial, which dominates this island, and the
population density. Young soils irrigated by
mineral-rich waters coming from regions of
still active volcanoes are extremely fertile,
whereas thin soils overlying tertiary lime-
stone, which occur in more restricted re-