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

232

ARCHANA PRASAD

and how their development reflects slow and sub-
tle changes in the physical and economic environ-
ments. Her treatment of the 0rumgaard plough
(Chapter 10 and Appendix 1), in which she tells us
about her own experimentation with a replica and
shows how it could out-perform its contemporary
swing ploughs of the agricultural improvers, helps
to focus on the continued successes of its medieval
predecessors throughout the ages. A minor draw-
back of this otherwise reveting presentation is that
it assumes a familiarity with the economic devel-
opments of medieval Danmark. Some further
elaboration on this point would have been wel-
come.
This is an important and a valuable book. There
are many moments in it that will provoke the
thoughtful reader to the greater social history
which the study ultimately seeks to inform. The
book should also encourage us all to look again
and more closely at the various plough irons that
survive in our national collections, to see what
new insights we might gain. (Oh, for a piece of a
medieval plough frame!) Wear is the novelty of
Lerche’s research, and it is one that we must all
take on board. She has shown us how the irons can
wear, and the amount of information which we
can extract from them with a sympathetic eye.
The book is also sumptuously produced, meet-
ing the high standards we have come to accept of
the Secretariat. The considerable number of line
drawings and photographic plates (colour and
black-and-white, many by Lerche herself) are
handsomely reproduced in a large format that is
any bibliophile’s dream, particularly in this age of
publishing niggardliness. This feast does come at a
price, however, and the 700 Danish Kroner it cost
(plus a further 116 DKK for freight, the total of
which translated to over US $150 for this reviewer)
is high. It is a pity then to have to report some
editorial problems, which are entirely to do with
publishing in a foreign language. Occasional mis-
spellings and some oddly articulated sentences
mar this otherwise beautiful volume. The book,
however, is an investment that should be invested
in. It will remain a most important source of refer-
ence for generations to come, and it will always be
a joy to read.
Niall Brady. Cornell University

Brady 1. Chapter 37; Dorothea Oschinsky (ed. and
transl.) Walter of Henley and other Treatises on Estate
Management and Accounting. Clarendon, Oxford, 1971.
GEORGES COMET: Le pay san et son outil. Essai
d’histoire technique des cereales (France VIII-XV
siecles).
Collection de 1’ecole Franchise de Rome - 165. Pa-
lais Farnese, 00186 Roma (Italie). 1992. 711 pp. and
60 Plates. ISSN 0223-5099. ISBN 2-7283-0246-0.
Let it be stated at once: this is a magnificent work,
a treasure trove, for future medieaevalists. Since
the 70s Georges Comet has carried out pioneering
work on the iconography of calendars and other
primary sources for medieval agricultural tech-
niques, which has very much been used in his 60
plates. Amongst his primary sources are also in-
cluded archeological investigations outside
France: English, Danish, Central European espe-
cially Polish and include experiments in Denmark
based on the earliest systematic reconstructions
and use of harvesting tools about 1940.
Comet is aware of important parameters like
climate and soil conditions in interplay with hu-
man force and skill as well as social aspects. He
quotes some forty primary sources and refers to
about 575 authors. It is rare to find omissions, but
why not Herodotus? And amongst the more re-
cent authors M. de Dombasle, 1824, W. Haarnagel
(mentioned p. 107), Conrad Herebach, Cologne
1571, and the Swedish scholar Dag Trotzig’s thesis
on the development of threshing flails, Slagan, ed.
in Nordiska Museets Handlingar vol. 18, 1943. But
one also misses Max Wahren on Swiss grain-finds
and Rex Wailes on water-mills. Papers of T&T are
quoted in the list of literature about 30 times
which demonstrates the author’s contact with the
journal for many years.
Georges Comet’s work cannot be done justice
to in a short review. He has concentrated on the
treatment of cereals, with side glances to other
seeds used for human nutrition. It is a pleasure to
follow his critical and generally very realistic dis-
cussions. It reveals his abilities in making sharp
analyses and reaching reliable conclusions. His
mind is open to what has been hidden or forgotten
behind academic attitudes and armchair specula-
^ons- Axel Steensberg