Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (7.1992/1995)

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ARCHANA PRASAD

Forsyth, Frederik (1889): Highlands of Central In-
dia, London.
Grigson, W. V. (1927): Maria Gonds of Bastar,
London.
Hegde, B.R. and B. K. Linge Gowda (1989):
Cropping patterns and production technology
in small millets in India, in: Seetharam, Riley
and harinarayan (eds.) Small Millets in Global
Agriculture, Delhi.
ICAR - Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(1970): Pulse Crops in India, Delhi.
Ostmarton, R. C. (1928): Sal and its regeneration,
in: Indian Forester, vol. 54.

Prescott, ]. A. and R. L. Pedleton (1952): Laterite
and Lateric soils. Com. Agricultural Bureau.
Richards, Audrey (1932): Hunger and Work in a
Savage Tribe. London.
Richards, Audrey (1939): Land, labour and diet in
Northern Rhodesia. London.
Seetharam, Riley and Harinarayan ed. (1989):
Small Millets in Global Agriculture, Delhi.
Steensberg, Axel (1993): Fire Clearance Husband-
ry. Traditional Techniques Throughout the
World, Herning.

REVIEWS - BUCHBESPRECHUNGEN

PETER MICHELSEN: Vand til torstig jord.
Kunstvandingens hvor, hvorndr, hvordan.
Christian Ejlers’ Publisher, Copenhagen 1995. 160
pp. ISBN 87 7241 792 7. Summary in English:
Water for thirsty earth. The where, when and how
of irrigation, 148-156.
The former leader of the Danish Open Air Mu-
seum, Peter Michelsen, has studied irrigation prac-
tices on journeys throughout most of Europe and
Turkey during about 45 years. The majority of the
97 illustrations in this book are based on his own
excellent, functional photographs. About 65 are
reproduced in size 17x17 cm, which makes the
study of details easy. The impressive standard has
been kept up in the choice of printer and paper.
Although the publication is in Danish it can be
recommended to foreign readers because of its
clear and concentrated English summary. The sub-
ject will be familiar to readers of T&T from Mi-
chelsen’s articles in vol.V:3, 1986 and Vol.V:4,
1987. The description follows technical inventions
from prehistoric times until the present day. Pos-
sible influences from one region to another are
suggested, but the author is well aware of the im-
pact of soil and climate without over-stressing log-
ical explanations. Irrigation of meadows and
grass-fields was practised even in moist climates,
for example at the Bishop’s residence in Medieval
Greenland, and in Sweden settlers moving into
former Lapp territory reclaimed new land by
building a dam so that an area was totally covered

by water during winter time, clearing old hayfields
of mosses, scrub and thickets.
The author has studied the Alpine regions on
several journeys, and his description of technical
solutions is done in a masterly way. Lombardy,
Southern and Eastern France, and the Pyrenees
were also visited. His references to Africa, Asia,
Oceania and the Americas derive from a compre-
hensive study of relevant literature. Some of the
most recent publications have, however, evaded
his research, eg. Harold C. Conklin: Ethnograph-
ical Atlas of Ifugao, 1980, with its exploration of
irrigation methods in a remote part of the interior
of northern Luzon, and Francesca Bray: Agricul-
ture, 1984, in J. Needham: Science and Civilisation
in China, vol. 6, Part II. But such sources may
possibly deepen the insight into the original meth-
ods of irrigation in East Asia in a forthcoming edi-
tion.
Axel Steensberg
GRITH LERCHE: Ploughing Implements and
Tillage Practices in Denmark from the Viking Pe-
riod to About 1800 Experimentally Substantiated.
The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Let-
ters’ Commission for Research on the History of
Agricultural Implements and Field Structures.
No. 8. Poul Kristensen Grafisk Virksomhed, Her-
ning, 1994. 322 pp. ISBN 87 7468 388 8.
This detailed treatise brings together Grith
Lerche’s precise and sophisticated study of early