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Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Intensive Agriculture and Food Production
Problems with Intensive Agriculture
Correcting Problems Associated with Intensive Agriculture
Alternative Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Soil Science
Increasing Organic Matter, Sustainable Agriculture, and the Need for Inputs
Chapter 2. Basic Concepts of Organic Matter
Decomposition of Organic Matter
SOM and Humus
Environmental Conditions Affecting Decomposition
Extent of Decomposition
Losses of SOM and Crop Yields
Increasing Soil Organic Matter
Negative Aspects of Organic Matter Additions
Chapter 3. Organic Matter As a Source of Nutrients
Organic Matter and Nutrient Supply
Nutrients Released from Organic Matter
Nutrient Release
Indirect Effects of Organic Matter on Nutrient Availability
Accounting for Nutrients in Organic Matter
Chapter 4. Physical Qualities
Soil Structure
Porosity
Bulk Density
Compaction
Infiltration and Percolation
Aggregate Stability
Moisture-Holding Capacity
Erosion
Chapter 5. Biological Effects of Organic Matter
Soil Organisms and Their Functions
Processes Vital to Soil Health
Controlling Pests by Harnessing Soil Organisms and Organic Matter
Chapter 6. Adding Organic Matter
Growing Organic Matter in Place
Plant Residues
Chapter 7. Adding Organic Matter Not Grown in Place
Manure
Compost
Loamless Composts
Sewage Effluents and Biosolids
Peats
High-Analysis Animal and Other Wastes
Chapter 8. Placement of Organic Matter
Incorporating OM
Plastic Mulch
Natural Organic Mulches
Types of Natural Organic Mulch
Deleterious Effects of Organic Mulches
Providing Protection from Pests by Using Organic Mulches
Chapter 9. Conservation Tillage
Increasing Soil Organic Matter
Other Benefits of Reduced Tillage
Reduction in Costs
No-Tillage
Reduced Tillage
Pest Problems with Conservation Tillage
Corrective Measures
Chapter 10. Changes Brought About by Conservation Tillage
Cultural Methods
Fertility Changes
Pests
Plant Diseases
Nematodes
Weeds
Miscellaneous Pests
Chapter 11. Putting It All Together: Combining Organic Matter Additions
with Conservation Tillage
Basic Approaches
Adding Organic Matter
Supplying Needed Nutrients
Controlling Pests
Adding Water
Equipment for Conservation Tillage
Summary
Appendix 1. Common and Botanical Names of Plants
Appendix 2. Abbreviations and Symbols Used in This Book
Appendix 3. Useful Conversion Factors and Data
Bibliography
Index
Reference Notes Included
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Matt Olson
reviewed Sustainable Soils on September 03, 2016
Sustainable Soils
This is one of Darwin's more obscure works, and as such I think it gives a special measure of the man's calibre as a scientist and observer. On the one hand, it is all of a piece with his Lyellian gradualism to show what lowly earthworms can achieve across millennia of small-scale vomiting. On the other hand, it shows Darwin's thoroughness and mastery of method in even the lowliest of details, drawing on accounts of giant earthworms from foreign explorers, observations of leaf consumption in pots of earth, measurements of deposits over tombstones, the folk knowledge of farmers and the observations of archaeologists.
Darwin establishes how worms contribute to the creation of humus-rich soil, how they use gizzard-stones to grind vegetable matter, how they can survive months of inundation, how they produce terracing on pasture and how they manage to move megatonnes of soil downwards and out to sea from river basins. He establishes, fittingly given his most famous work, how small causes add up to geological effects. He shows how rocks descend into fields, how burial mounds are reshaped, how earth piles against the largest boulders and how traces of buried walls remain discernible in fields, an important consideration for archaeologists. How many of us would have presumed that worms are so interesting?
Another small masterpiece from one of science's largest figures, and eminently readable and engaging into the bargain.
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