DOI Artikel:
Editorial
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49002#0071
EDITORIAL
Our 1984 issue dealt mainly with Europe.
Now we redress the balance, and we do so
with two substantial contributions from
South America and Central Africa. In 1981,
we reviewed R. A. Donkin’s stimulating
book on Agricultural Terracing in the
Aboriginal New World. It is with pleasure,
therefore, that we now publish Inge Schjel-
lerup’s article on ridged fields and terracing
systems in the northern highlands of Peru.
This ongoing work by an intrepid lady not
only widens the geographical spread of
knowledge, but also raises the academic level
of the subject since this is, as fas as we know,
the first time that measurements of field sy-
stems from the area have been carried out.
Photographs and sketches are fine, but more
is needed, and that is what we get here. We
feel fully justified in allotting a good deal of
space to the measured drawings.
With Peter Stromgaard’s contribution on
shifting cultivation in Zambia, we are also to
some extent exploring virgin territory. He
discusses a non-ploughing area with an in-
field-outfield system in which wood-ash fer-
tiliser is got through slash-and-burn (swid-
den) practices on the outfield, followed by
removal of the ash to the infield. There is a
kind of parallel here to a long obsolete Scot-
tish practice, whereby turf from the moor-
land areas was ploughed in strips, gathered,
burned, and then used to manure the infield
land. In both cases essential nutrient ions
were moved to where they were wanted. It is
strange to meditate on how the Bemba
people, or any other peoples, could have ar-
rived empirically at a means of maintaining
fertility for their millet and cassava crops
which present day science, using chemical
fertilisers, shows to have been perfectly val-
id. Stromgaard also looks at the labour input
by both men and women in relation to crop
yields.
Mervyn Watson’s article on Irish ploughs
and tillage techniques brings us back to
Europe. Using published sources, he ana-
lyses the practical problems facing farmers
200 years ago. Should the slices stand on end
or be laid more flat? What was best for local
conditions, including the need to shape
ridges in the days before underground tile
drainage? He looks at the working process as
much as at the implement, and shows, for
example, that we must be careful about as-
suming that James Small’s swing plough
from Scotland was the answer to every Irish
farmer’s prayer. In broad terms, there has
been much discussion of the implements and
their variant forms. This article supports a
plea we wish to make - let us have a com-
plementary and equally close examination of
their techniques of use too.
There is much more good material in the
pipe-line for future volumes, including a
study of Albanian ards, by Spiro Shkurti.
We flatter ourselves that a good journal at-
tracts good material, and Tools and Tillages
does so. At the same time, good material
need not be closely reasoned, finished work,
but notes on important pieces of research
that can stimulate thought. Young scholars
with a fresh and clear light in their eyes
should not hesitate to let us know about
work they have in hand.
Our 1984 issue dealt mainly with Europe.
Now we redress the balance, and we do so
with two substantial contributions from
South America and Central Africa. In 1981,
we reviewed R. A. Donkin’s stimulating
book on Agricultural Terracing in the
Aboriginal New World. It is with pleasure,
therefore, that we now publish Inge Schjel-
lerup’s article on ridged fields and terracing
systems in the northern highlands of Peru.
This ongoing work by an intrepid lady not
only widens the geographical spread of
knowledge, but also raises the academic level
of the subject since this is, as fas as we know,
the first time that measurements of field sy-
stems from the area have been carried out.
Photographs and sketches are fine, but more
is needed, and that is what we get here. We
feel fully justified in allotting a good deal of
space to the measured drawings.
With Peter Stromgaard’s contribution on
shifting cultivation in Zambia, we are also to
some extent exploring virgin territory. He
discusses a non-ploughing area with an in-
field-outfield system in which wood-ash fer-
tiliser is got through slash-and-burn (swid-
den) practices on the outfield, followed by
removal of the ash to the infield. There is a
kind of parallel here to a long obsolete Scot-
tish practice, whereby turf from the moor-
land areas was ploughed in strips, gathered,
burned, and then used to manure the infield
land. In both cases essential nutrient ions
were moved to where they were wanted. It is
strange to meditate on how the Bemba
people, or any other peoples, could have ar-
rived empirically at a means of maintaining
fertility for their millet and cassava crops
which present day science, using chemical
fertilisers, shows to have been perfectly val-
id. Stromgaard also looks at the labour input
by both men and women in relation to crop
yields.
Mervyn Watson’s article on Irish ploughs
and tillage techniques brings us back to
Europe. Using published sources, he ana-
lyses the practical problems facing farmers
200 years ago. Should the slices stand on end
or be laid more flat? What was best for local
conditions, including the need to shape
ridges in the days before underground tile
drainage? He looks at the working process as
much as at the implement, and shows, for
example, that we must be careful about as-
suming that James Small’s swing plough
from Scotland was the answer to every Irish
farmer’s prayer. In broad terms, there has
been much discussion of the implements and
their variant forms. This article supports a
plea we wish to make - let us have a com-
plementary and equally close examination of
their techniques of use too.
There is much more good material in the
pipe-line for future volumes, including a
study of Albanian ards, by Spiro Shkurti.
We flatter ourselves that a good journal at-
tracts good material, and Tools and Tillages
does so. At the same time, good material
need not be closely reasoned, finished work,
but notes on important pieces of research
that can stimulate thought. Young scholars
with a fresh and clear light in their eyes
should not hesitate to let us know about
work they have in hand.