agronomy

"Many tropical soils are poor in inorganic nutrients and rely on the recycling of nutrients from soil organic matter to maintain fertility. In undisturbed such nutrients are recycled via the ... ; , meanwhile, depends on the mineralization of organic nutrients from the plant remains ... or on (short-lived) inputs from ash ... . This dependence on organic nutrients in tropical soils has the result that tests of soil quality which only give isolated measures of inorganic nutrient status are unreliable ... , and that the effects of fertilization can be inconsistent because of leaching or fixation of inorganic nutrients. Here we attempt to quantify the role of organic matter in sustaining the fertility of soils from three different climate zones. We estimate rates of from ecological measurements and , and determine its relation to the and nutrient budgets. We find that agriculture without supplementary fertilization was economical for 65 years on temperate and for six years in a tropical semi-arid . An extremely nutrient-poor Amazonian soil showed no potential for agriculture beyond the three-year lifespan of the forest litter mat, once biological nutrient cycles were interrupted by slash-burning. These observations suggest that quantification of organic-matter cycling may provide an important guide to the agricultural potential of soils."

"Attention is again called to the fact that the is the original source of 98½% per cent of the materials found in the green plant; the carbohydrates, fats and being composed of elements supplied in the form of water and gas. These substances are furnished free of cost in humid climates, the supply being practically beyond control, and their use by the plant results in no impoverishment of the land. The subject of practical importance to the farmer is the supply of the other 1½% per cent of the plant, consisting of nitrogen and the ash elements which are derived directly from the solid particles of the soil. It has been shown that seven of these elements are essential to plant growth. Experience has proved that only three of these elements (i.e. , and ) are likely to become exhausted, or, in other words, that nothing is gained by adding to the soil any of the other elements of . This is due to the fact that the plant uses nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in rather larger quantities than the other elements, and that they exist in smaller quantities in the ground, and not because they are any more essential to vegetation. Occasionally soils are found that are actually deficient in , but in most cases lime is present in sufficient abundance for the growth of the plant."

"Plants require at least 16 s for normal growth and for completion of their life cycle. Those used in the largest amounts, , and oxygen, are non-mineral elements supplied by air and water. The other 13 elements are taken up by plants only in mineral form from the soil or must be added as s. Plants need relatively large amounts of , , and . These nutrients are referred to as primary nutrients, and are the ones most frequently supplied to plants in fertilizers. The three secondary elements, , , and , are required in smaller amounts than the primary nutrients. Calcium and magnesium are usually supplied with liming materials, and sulfur with fertilizer materials. Contaminants in also supply 10 to 20 pounds of nitrogen and sulfur per acre each year, depending on local air quality. The micronutrients consist of seven essential elements: , , , iron, , , and . These elements occur in very small amounts in both soils and plants, but their role is equally as important as the primary or secondary nutrients. A deficiency of one or more of the micronutrients can lead to severe depression in growth, yield, and crop quality. Some soils do not contain sufficient amounts of these nutrients to meet the plant's requirements for rapid growth and good production. In such cases, supplemental micronutrient applications in the form of commercial fertilizers or must be made."

"I started the window box project in autumn and focused on hardy plants that would be attractive over winter. I mixed delicate white s with and in one trough, and planted an array of winter salad leaves including and in another. It all looked lovely for a good while. But I confess the carex is currently half dead and the cyclamens decidedly unwell. The salads that weren't eaten have grown legs and gone to seed. After a winter thinking about medicinal plants, food growing, and , it's time for an overhaul using my new knowledge."

"Round cheese-boxes, powder-blue boxes, fancy soap-boxes, or any similar moderate-sized boxes, make good window-gardens, and can be bought at any grocer's shop for a few pence. They look pretty painted green. Take care not to buy very large boxes, as they are so heavy to move. Window-boxes and pots should never be placed down flat, as then no fresh air can pass up through the holes at the bottom of the box or pot, unless the stand on which they are placed is made of rails like a plate-rack. In the s at I notices that cockle-shells were broken up into small pieces and placed under the pots that stood on flat shelves; cockle-shells can easily be got, and look very clean and pretty. When pots are allowed to stand in saucers filled with water, air cannot possibly get to the roots, and the earth about them may therefore become mouldy."

"In London and all large towns gardening has its trials. ... One or two alternatives are open to us; one is the Window-box, another is the , and there is the Balcony. The windox-box is both the easiest and the most general, but, common as are these town adornments, it is a matter of fact that very little "gardening" is done in them. For the most part the man in the street gest as much æsthetic enjoyment out of a window-box as its owner, and often, except in the matter of payment, has about as much to do with it. The lordly mansions, in front of which are displayed the most beautiful colour-schemes during the fashionable season, are often closed at other periods of the year, while their owners are away enjoying flowers in distant plaes. It is of the window-gardening of that far larger class that lives in London all the year round we would say a word or two. Window-gardening might become ten times more interesting than it is now if people only woke up to a sense of its possibilities."

"Window boxes well filled with suitable plants are a great attraction to any house, and to a great extent help to beautify that which would otherwise be a plain and uninteresting front without the cheering presence of flowers. It is strange that so few, comparatively speaking, take so little interest in this form of gardening, especially when it can be so cheaply done. Many a sombre-looking building might be made bright with window boxes well furnished with luxuriant plants full of flower during the summer months. The plants usually seen devoted to this purpose comprise but a small portion of subjects that might be used with effect, generally consisting of , s, and . These, although very attractive, and lasting in flower for a long period, might be supplemented by many other graceful and interesting plants to give a greater variety. With a little arrangement a most interesting garden, occupying but a small space, might be made, which would contain something of interest the whole year round."

"An is a nonparasitic plant that dwells on another plant and has been well studied in terrestrial plants. However, in the , these epiphytes thrive on algal thallus for their support and growth, and their infestation has a prime economic impediment in commercial cultivation. They usually belong to various groups, namely, bacteria, fungi, algae, ascidians, bryozoans, sponges, protozoa, molluscs, crustaceans, and other marine sessile organisms. The seaweed farming industry is currently growing at ca. 9% per annum, with global production of 31.2 million wet tons worth US$ 11.7 billion. The first report of an epiphytic outbreak in commercial farms of Kappaphycus in the 1970s caught the attention of several researchers on this devastating epiphyte which causes retarded growth and significant loss of stocking biomass, ultimately leading to the production of inferior quality of raw material. High-density planting in commercial farms is often responsible for recurring epiphytic infestations."

"Seaweed aquaculture, the fastest-growing component of global food production, offers a slate of opportunities to mitigate, and adapt to . Seaweed farms release carbon that may be buried in sediments or exported to the deep sea, therefore acting as a . The crop can also be used, in total or in part, for production, with a potential CO2 mitigation capacity, in terms of avoided emissions from fossil fuels, of about 1,500 tons CO2 km−2 year−1. Seaweed aquaculture can also help reduce the emissions from agriculture, by improving soil quality substituting synthetic fertilizer and when included in cattle fed, lowering methane emissions from cattle."

"The usage of macroalgae in traditional food and was recorded in early Neolithic data of ten thousand years back. Being naturally enriched in key nutrients and in various health-promoting compounds, they are traditionally consumed in many Asian countries like China, Indonesia, Philippine, South Korea, North Korea, Japan and Malaysia for centuries. Recently, they have attained more reputation in western countries. Seaweeds promising candidates for the design of functional foods have become key foods in current nutritional practices (vegetarian, vegans, health-foods, etc.) and are increasingly widely consumed in the USA, South American and European countries. Global demands for seaweeds has been growing together with increases in usage beyond former traditional applications. According to statistics of the most cultivated seaweed taxa, three were used mainly for extraction: ' spp. and ' for s, and ' spp. for ; ', ', ' spp. and ' were the most important in human food usage. The main producing countries were China, Indonesia and the Philippines."

"A plant sweeter than a husband, a plant sweeter than a child: may Ezina-Kusu dwell in your house."

"Every night your count is made and your tally-stick put into the ground, so your herdsman can tell people how many ewes there are and how many young lambs, and how many goats and how many young kids. When gentle winds blow through the city and strong winds scatter, they build a milking pen for you; but when gentle winds blow through the city and strong winds scatter, I stand up as an equal to Ickur. I am Ezina, I am born for the warrior -- I do not give up."

"When, upon the hill of heaven and earth, An spawned the Anuna gods, … there was no small grain, grain from the mountains or grain from the holy habitations. There was no cloth to wear; … the people of those days did not know about eating bread. They did not know about wearing clothes; they went about with naked limbs in the Land. Like sheep they ate grass with their mouths and drank water from the ditches. [...] At that time, at the place of the gods' formation, in their own home, on the Holy Mound, they created Lahar and Ezina. Having gathered them in the divine banqueting chamber, the Anuna gods of the Holy Mound partook of the bounty of Lahar and Ezina but were not sated; the Anuna gods of the Holy Mound partook of the sweet milk of their holy sheepfold but were not sated. For their own well-being in the holy sheepfold, they gave them to mankind as sustenance. At that time Enki spoke to Enlil: "Father Enlil, now Lahar and Ezina have been created on the Holy Mound, let us send them down from the Holy Mound." Enki and Enlil, having spoken their holy word, sent Lahar and Ezina down from the Holy Mound. Lahar being fenced in by her sheepfold, they gave her grass and herbs generously. For Ezina they made her field and gave her the plough, yoke and team. Lahar standing in her sheepfold was a shepherd of the sheepfolds brimming with charm. Ezina standing in her furrow was a beautiful girl radiating charm; lifting her raised head up from the field she was suffused with the bounty of heaven. Lahar and Ezina had a radiant appearance. They brought wealth to the assembly. They brought sustenance to the Land. They fulfilled the ordinances of the gods. They filled the store-rooms of the Land with stock. The barns of the Land were heavy with them. When they entered the homes of the poor who crouch in the dust they brought wealth. Both of them, wherever they directed their steps, added to the riches of the household with their weight. Where they stood, they were satisfying; where they settled, they were seemly. They gladdened the heart of An and the heart of Enlil."

"Holy Enten […] made Ezina appear radiant as a beautiful maiden. The harvest, the great festival of Enlil, rose heavenward."

"I foster neighbourliness and friendliness. I sort out quarrels started between neighbours. When I come upon a captive youth and give him his destiny, he forgets his despondent heart and I release his fetters and shackles."

"When the beer dough has been carefully prepared in the oven, and the mash tended in the oven, mixes them for me while your big billy-goats and rams are despatched for my banquets. On their thick legs they are made to stand separate from my produce. Your shepherd on the high plain eyes my produce enviously; when I am standing in the furrow in the field, my farmer chases away your herdsman with his cudgel. Even when they look out for you, from the open country to the hidden places, your fears are not removed from you: fanged snakes and bandits, the creatures of the desert, want your life on the high plain."

"From sunrise till sunset, may the name of Ezina be praised. People should submit to the yoke of Ezina. Whoever has silver, whoever has jewels, whoever has cattle, whoever has sheep shall take a seat at the gate of whoever has grain, and pass his time there."

"They drank sweet wine, they enjoyed sweet beer."

"From g praise to lady Kusu, the princess of the holy abzu."

"As for you, Ickur is your master, Cakkan your herdsman, and the dry land your bed. Like fire beaten down in houses and in fields, like small flying birds chased from the door of a house, you are turned into the lame and the weak of the Land. Should I really bow my neck before you? You are distributed into various measuring-containers. When your innards are taken away by the people in the market-place, and when your neck is wrapped with your very own loincloth, one man says to another: "Fill the measuring-container with grain for my ewe!"."

"She has purified the oven. [...] Kusu has then put numerous bulls and numerous sheep into the great oven. Kusu has then put numerous bulls and numerous loaves into the great oven."

"The hoe makes everything prosper, the hoe makes everything flourish. ... The hoe has made people exist. It is the hoe that is the strength of young manhood. The hoe and the basket are the tools for building cities. It builds the right kind of house, it cultivates the right kind of fields. It is you, hoe, that extend the good !"

"The king who measured up the hoe and who passes his time in its tracks, the hero Ninurta, has introduced working with the hoe into the rebel lands."

"The E-kur, the temple of Enlil, was founded by the hoe. By day it was building it, by night it caused the temple to grow."

"The hoe buries people, but dead people are also brought up from the ground by the hoe. With the hoe, the hero honoured by An, the younger brother of , the warrior Gilgamesh – is as powerful as a hunting net. The sage son of is pre-eminent with s. With the hoe, he is the great barber of the watercourses. In the chamber of the shrine, with the hoe he is the minister."

"The hoe, the implement whose destiny was fixed by father Enlil -- the renowned hoe! Nisaba be praised!"

"I make a kiln for the boatman and heat pitch for him. By fashioning processional and boats for him, I enable the boatman to support his wife and children."

"Hoe, digging miserably, weeding miserably with your teeth; Hoe, burrowing in the mud; Hoe, putting its head in the mud of the fields, spending your days with the brick-moulds in mud with nobody cleaning you, digging wells, digging ditches, digging! Wood of the poor man's hand, not fit for the hands of high-ranking persons, the hand of a man's slave is the only adornment of your head."

"I plant a garden for the householder. When the garden has been encircled, surrounded by mud walls and the agreements reached, people again take up a hoe. When a well has been dug, a water lift constructed and a water-hoist hung, I straighten the plots. I am the one who puts water in the plots. After I have made the apple-tree grow, it is I who bring forth its fruits. These fruits adorn the temples of the great gods: thus I enable the gardener to support his wife and children."

"To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds and watch, their renewal of life, this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do."

"O the Hoe, the Hoe, the Hoe, tied together with thongs; the Hoe, made from poplar, with a tooth of ash; the Hoe, made from tamarisk, with a tooth of sea-thorn; the Hoe, double-toothed, four-toothed; the Hoe, child of the poor."

"Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest."

"Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, The emptiness of ages in his face, And on his back the burden of the world."

"I am the Hoe and I live in the city. No one is more honoured than I am. I am a servant following his master."

"Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form, the lord who never changes the destinies which he determines – Enlil – who will make the human seed of the Land come forth from the earth – and not only did he hasten to separate heaven from earth, and hasten to separate earth from heaven, but, in order to make it possible for humans to grow in "where flesh came forth" [the name of a cosmic location], he first raised the axis of the world at . He did this with the help of the hoe -- and so daylight broke forth. By distributing the shares of duty he established daily tasks, and for the hoe and the carrying-basket wages were even established. Then Enlil praised his hoe, his hoe wrought in gold, its top inlaid with lapis lazuli, his hoe whose blade was tied on with a cord, which was adorned with silver and gold. ... The lord evaluated the hoe, determined its future destiny and placed a holy crown on its head. Here, in 'Where Flesh Came Forth', he set this very hoe to work; he had it place the first model of mankind in the brick mould. His Land started to break through the soil towards Enlil."

"In the sky there is the altirigu-bird, the bird of the god. On the earth there is the hoe: a dog in the reed-beds, a dragon in the forest."

"I build embankments, I dig ditches. I fill all the meadows with water. When I make water pour into all the reed-beds, my small baskets carry it away. When a canal is cut, or when a ditch is cut, when water rushes out at the swelling of a mighty river, creating lagoons on all sides, I, the Hoe, dam it in. Neither south nor north wind can separate it. The fowler gathers eggs. The fisherman catches fish. People empty bird-traps. Thus the abundance I create spreads over all the lands."

"After I have worked on the watercourse and the sluices, put the path in order and built a tower there on its banks, those who spend the day in the fields, and the field-workers who match them by night, go up into that tower. These people revive themselves there just as in their well-built city. The water-skins I made they use to pour water. I put life into their hearts again."

"We go in withering July To ply the hard incessant hoe; Panting beneath the brazen sky We sweat and grumble, but we go."

"We’ve been bombarded with nauseating narratives about the evils of factory farming for over 40 years. The fact that we have not, as a collective gesture of consumer outrage, monkey wrenched these hellholes into oblivion speaks either to the human tendency to procrastinate or, worse, our pathological indifference."

"I initially became a vegetarian for this reason: I have a great hatred for the treatment of animals in what we call factory farms. That, I felt, was one of the most horrible and bestial things, and I was constantly protesting about it. Then, when I protested, somebody would say to me, "Do you eat meat?" And if I said, "yes," then they would say, "Well, how do you know that that isn't made in this way?" And I realized that if I were to remain a meat-eater that I couldn't go on protesting. So that was the actual impulse. But since then I've come to feel that it does purify one, and I would find it very abhorrent to go back to eating meat. I've found that it has got a spiritual significance, but my initial motive was that—to be able to give a valid answer to that. … [Have you ever visited the factory farms?] Well, I have seen them. I've seen the chicken ones, which are quite horrifying. And I have put my head in others. But the whole thing nauseates me more than I can tell you. To see meat produced in that way made it impossible for me to eat meat."

"I have seen many individuals and groups promoting animal rights and following a vegetarian diet. This is excellent. Certain killing is purely a "luxury." … But perhaps the saddest is factory farming. The poor animals there really suffer. I once visited a poultry farm in Japan where they keep 200,000 hens for two years just for their eggs. During those two years, they are prisoners. Then after two years, when they are no longer productive, the hens are sold. That is really shocking, really sad. We must support those who are attempting to reduce that kind of unfair treatment."

"Many dogs, cats and horses are loved and cherished, and are even mourned when they die. But pigs, chickens, calves and other animals grown in factory farms are treated in the most brutal and exploitative way, devoid of all affection. They are units in a production line; their only purpose is to produce the maximum amount of food at the minimum cost. Factory farms epitomize the mechanistic spirit. … To justify this treatment, the less-favoured animals have to be regarded as inferior, unworthy of any sentimental attachment. A terrible conflict arises if the exploited animals are considered to have any value in themselves. One way to avoid this conflict is to keep the privileged and the exploited animals in separate categories in our minds. … But if emotions spill over from pets to other animals, there is trouble. People become vegetarians, or even animal rights activists."

"I don’t think most Americans realize that the way we raise animals is such a betrayal of the heritage of our grandparents. I don’t think they realize that … these big companies like and and others have our American farmers now living like in constant debt, forced to follow their rules. I’ve watched the suffering in North Carolina of minority communities who live around and can no longer breathe their air … and I’ve seen workers in the meatpacking plants and how dangerous those plants are. Everybody is losing in this system – except for the massive corporations that have taken over the American food system."

"When factory farmers tell us that animals kept in 'intensive' (i.e. concentration) camps are being kindly spared the inclemency of a winter outdoors, and that calves do not mind being tethered for life on slats because they have never known anything else, an echo should start in our historical consciousness: do you remember how the childlike blackamoors were kindly spared the harsh responsibilities of freedom, how the skivvy didn't feel the hardship of scrubbing all day because she was used to it, how the poor didn't mind their slums because they had never known anything else?"

"The factory farm industry and its armies of lobbyists wield great influence in the halls of federal and state power, while animal rights activists wield virtually none. This imbalance has produced increasingly oppressive laws, accompanied by massive law enforcement resources devoted to punishing animal activists even for the most inconsequential nonviolent infractions — as the FBI search warrant and raid in search of “Lucy and Ethel” illustrates. The U.S. government, of course, has always protected and served the interests of industry. Beginning when most of the nation was fed by small farms, federal agencies have been particularly protective of agricultural industry. That loyalty has only intensified as family farms have nearly disappeared, replaced by industrial factory farms where animals are viewed purely as commodities, instruments for profit, and treated with unconstrained cruelty. [...] In other words, both the legislative process and law enforcement agencies are being blatantly exploited — misused — to protect not the property rights but the reputational interests of this industry. Having the FBI — in the midst of real domestic terrorism threats, hurricane-ravaged communities, and intricate corporate criminality — send agents around the country to animal sanctuaries in search of DNA samples for two missing piglets may seem like overkill to the point of being laughable. But it is entirely unsurprising in the context of how law enforcement resources are used, and on whose behalf."

"FBI agents are devoting substantial resources to a multistate hunt for two baby piglets that the bureau believes are named Lucy and Ethel. [...] To an industry feeling endangered by growing public disgust over conditions at industrial farms — driven by scandals within the meat, pork, and poultry sectors — Lily and Lizzie are political and journalistic threats. Animals like them are vital for enabling animal rights activists to demonstrate to the public in a visceral, personalized way that this industry generates massive profit by monstrously and unnecessarily torturing who are emotionally complex and experience great suffering."

"God's teaches us to refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal. And not only physical pain; an animal can suffer mental pain too. … It is an important part of Torah education to train children to respect animals as sensitive beings which should not be unnecessarily deprived of the joys of life. … It seems doubtful from all that has been said whether the Torah would sanction "factory farming," which treats animals as machines, with apparent insensitivity to their natural needs and instincts."

"Jesus' message is about love and compassion, but there is nothing loving or compassionate at factory farms and slaughterhouses, where billions of animals endure miserable lives and die violent deaths. Jesus mandates kindness and mercy for all God's creatures. He'd be appalled by the suffering that we inflict on animals today to indulge our acquired taste for their flesh. … When we sit down to eat, we can add to the violence, misery and death in the world, or we can respect God's creatures with a vegetarian diet. … There won't be any factory farms and slaughterhouses in heaven."

"The Justice Department’s grave attention to a case of two missing piglets reflects how vigilantly the U.S. government uses extreme measures to protect the agricultural industry — not from unjust economic loss, violent crime, or theft, but from political embarrassment and accurate reporting that damages the industry’s reputation. A sweeping framework of draconian laws — designed to shield the industry from criticism and deter and punish its critics — has been enacted across the country by federal and state legislatures that are captive to the industry’s high-paid lobbyists. The most notorious of these measures are the “ag-gag” laws, which make publishing videos of farm conditions taken as part of undercover operations a felony, punishable by years in prison."