Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (6.1988/1991)

36

PETER STR0MGAARD

(Fig. 2); excess grass is cut with a long-hand-
led knife (Fig. 3), and stacked, together with
any trash, into fikuka, small piles (Fig. 4), lat-
er burned for cultivation in the ashes. The
farmers are very selective about bush clear-
ance; certain types of trees which bear useful
fruit, or cover other needs, are left to reach
maturity and the ground is cultivated around
them. After that the grassland is hoed up. The
blade of the hoe varies in breadth from 160
mm to 250 mm and the length form 300 mm
to 450 mm. The angle between blade and han-
dle is approximately 45°. When mounds are
made the operator lifts the hoe above the
head and swings it down, thus allowing the
potential energy gained from lifting the hoe
to change into sufficient kinetic energy to
force the blade to slice into soil. The inver-
sion of the soil is then done by the operator
by bending his wrists.
If only a short time has elapsed since a pre-
vious clearing, and grass is not too long, it is


Fig. 3. The cutting of grass is done by a long-hand-
led knife.
Der Grasschnitt erfolgt mit einem Messer mit lan-
gem Griff.
first the topsoil with grass and roots is
thrown down with the turfy side inwards
(Fig. 5) into circular mounds, up to 1,5 m in


Fig. 2. The cutting, kupupa, of virgin land, insinde.
Note the vigorous grass cover.
Das Schneiden, kupupa, von jungfraulichem Land,
sinde. Man beachte den kraftigen Grasbewuchs.
left uncut and turned into the centre of the
mounds to rot down under the sods. This
operation involves the inversion of the soil:


Fig. 4. Grass is stacked with a hay-fork, to be
burned later on. The practice of cutting suggests
that an excess of grass may have been found unde-
sirable in the break-down of organic residues.
Das Gras wird mit einer Heuforke aufgehauft, um
sparer verbrannt zu werden. Die Praxis des
Schneidens laht darauf schliehen, dab ein Zuviel an
Gras sich bei der Zersetzung der organischen
Reste als unerwiinscht erwiesen haben konnte.