- Hardcover: 383 pages
- Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (May 1976)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 087663269X
- ISBN-13: 978-0876632697
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.4 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,614,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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From the Back Cover
The organic movement is a contemporary success story but the seeds of its success were sown as early as the 1930s and 1940s, when a group of scientists, farmers and doctors raised challenging questions about the relationship between farming methods and human health. Their concerns about the impact of intensive agriculture on food quality and the environment challenged the prevailing orthodoxy and remain as relevant now as they were then. The Soil Association is marking its 60th birthday year by paying tribute to some of those organic pioneers, republishing their inspirational work in a series of Organic Classics.
Eve Balfour's The Living Soil made an international impact during the Second World War and inspired the founding of the Soil Association in 1946.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Eve Balfour's The Living Soil made an international impact during the Second World War and inspired the founding of the Soil Association in 1946.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a seminal work on organic horticulture by one of the founders of the Soil Association. Lady Eve Balfour knows what she's talking about: she has a thorough academic understanding of the science behind her subject but also a thorough practical background through her experience of being a farmer. This book, first published in 1943, stands the test of time very well.
I came to look at organic horticulture from a skeptical point of view. People say "chemical-free vegetables" when, clearly, like every living thing, they're made of chemicals. What's the difference between organic and "chemical" fertilizer - after all, it's all just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, wherever it comes from? But, being of an open mind and of a curious disposition I wanted to look into it, and where better than this book, which, surely, coined the current usage of the term "organic" in gardening and farming.
The story is quite simple: ample evidence of the beneficial effects on health of an organically based diet - whether that be vegetarian, vegan or carnivorous. Lots of evidence to show that plants grown using compost-based fertilizers do better than those grown with "chemical" fertilizers. By chemical, we understand based largely on the Haaber-Bosch method of nitrogen fixing, the basis of all modern artificial fertilizers. And chemical horticulture ultimately destroys the soil whereas organic nurtures it. Why is this? It seems to be to do with mycorrhiza, a symbiotic and very intimate relationship between plants, through their roots, and fungi; why this should be so, Lady Eve tells us, is not clear, but the evidence that this relationship is very important seems to be unquestionable.
Does this stand the test of time? Well, in 2011, unlike 1943, I can read the book with my laptop and Google, Wikipedia, etc by my side. Not only does the thesis outlined above, and much more of her arguments in the book, stand the test of time but they have been verified and confirmed, and horticulturalists and biologists are still exploring this wonderful mycorrhizal relationship, which seems to be present in 95% of plant species - just about everything but brassicas and tomatoes in fact (but strangely other members of the tomato family such as potatoes do have mycorrhizal relationships). And it is now known that the fungi get carbohydrates from the plants and in return the plants who form a mycorrhizal relationship benefit from a much better uptake and storage of water and various essential elements. In some species, tuberculate mycorrhiza (that encapsulate a root like a tube) help the plant to fix nitrogen. Who'd have thought it? Certainly not me before I was driven to investigate by this fascinating book.
Well-written, learned, backed by shed loads of experience, this book seems to have been the best place to start my organic education.
I came to look at organic horticulture from a skeptical point of view. People say "chemical-free vegetables" when, clearly, like every living thing, they're made of chemicals. What's the difference between organic and "chemical" fertilizer - after all, it's all just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, wherever it comes from? But, being of an open mind and of a curious disposition I wanted to look into it, and where better than this book, which, surely, coined the current usage of the term "organic" in gardening and farming.
The story is quite simple: ample evidence of the beneficial effects on health of an organically based diet - whether that be vegetarian, vegan or carnivorous. Lots of evidence to show that plants grown using compost-based fertilizers do better than those grown with "chemical" fertilizers. By chemical, we understand based largely on the Haaber-Bosch method of nitrogen fixing, the basis of all modern artificial fertilizers. And chemical horticulture ultimately destroys the soil whereas organic nurtures it. Why is this? It seems to be to do with mycorrhiza, a symbiotic and very intimate relationship between plants, through their roots, and fungi; why this should be so, Lady Eve tells us, is not clear, but the evidence that this relationship is very important seems to be unquestionable.
Does this stand the test of time? Well, in 2011, unlike 1943, I can read the book with my laptop and Google, Wikipedia, etc by my side. Not only does the thesis outlined above, and much more of her arguments in the book, stand the test of time but they have been verified and confirmed, and horticulturalists and biologists are still exploring this wonderful mycorrhizal relationship, which seems to be present in 95% of plant species - just about everything but brassicas and tomatoes in fact (but strangely other members of the tomato family such as potatoes do have mycorrhizal relationships). And it is now known that the fungi get carbohydrates from the plants and in return the plants who form a mycorrhizal relationship benefit from a much better uptake and storage of water and various essential elements. In some species, tuberculate mycorrhiza (that encapsulate a root like a tube) help the plant to fix nitrogen. Who'd have thought it? Certainly not me before I was driven to investigate by this fascinating book.
Well-written, learned, backed by shed loads of experience, this book seems to have been the best place to start my organic education.
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