Irenek posted a note to en.agriculture inquiring after information on
the agricultural practice of burning fields. My response consisted of
some comments about indigenous agriculture in North America, so I've
posted it here, too.
[ David is speaking of the "en.agriculture" conference on the IGC system.
--Gary ]
Can't be much help about references to slash and burn agriculture,
except to say that it was and is a common practice in indigenous farming
in some, but not all parts of North America.
Here in Northeast North America, burning was employed to initially clear
a new patch of farmland. Indigenous people would clear a patch of
hardwood forest by girdling the trees, and then set fire to the
underbrush in the fall. The next spring they would plant their three
sisters (corn, beans and squash) on the cleared land. Since they didn't
practice much in the way of fertilization, the field would be used for
perhaps a decade or so, and then abandoned. The burning was normally
only done once when the forest was first cleared; after that,
cultivation was sufficient to keep the weeds under control. Planting
and cultivation was done exclusively by the women. Cultivation was done
three times during each growing season: at planting, in late June, and
again in July when the corn was knee high.
In contrast, many modern forms of slash and burn farming, such as rice
and sugar cane in the South and West, burning of fields is done
annually, ostensibly to control weeds.
This native American method of burning seems to have been employed only
-- or mostly -- in the forested regions. I know of no burning
techniques used by native peoples on the Midwest plains, or by
indigenous people who inhabited the arid and semi-arid regions inthe
Southwest and far West.
Steve Lewandowski, a soil conservation officer in western NY, has made
cultural studies and agricultural field experiments with traditional
Seneca Indian farming methods. He wrote in "Three Sisters -- A
Iroquoian Cultural Complex "in the Spring/Summer 1989 issue of Northeast
Indian Quarterly:
"We can say that the veneration of the Three Sisters appears in
the earliest accounts of white explorers and missionaries on the
continent. From its earliest appearance in written records, it was not
simply an agricultural strategy of technology, but a cultural complex,
full blown, complete with stories, ceremonies, technology, customs, and
etiquette. All indications lead one to believe that the Three Sisters
complex is ancient, though not necessarily in the Finger Lakes area. We
must at least entertain the possibility that the Three Sisters complex
could have been imported whole and added on to the local belief systems
along with the addition of hoe and hill culture of corn, beans and
squash to local patterns of hunting and gathering."
"In the Three Sisters we find an agricultural complex closely
attuned to the cultural and natural factors of its existence. Barring
disruption from the outside, the Three Sisters culture could have had a
long life. In fact, the Three Sisters complex appears to have had a
sustainability and permanence which modern, industrial agriculture
lacks."
"Labor in the fields was almost always communal. Mary Jemison, who
spent many years among the Seneca beginning in 1755, spoke of the work
as "leisurely." The matron would chose several lietenants, whose job it
was to coordinate the work and workers. Often groups of forty to fifty
women would meet at a set time to work together in the fields. They
arranged seed bed preparation, planting, hoeing, and harvest as "bees."
Children were expected to assist in these tasks, as well as to guard
plants from pests such as crows and raccoons after emergence."
"Mary Jemison spoke fondly of Seneca farming life: 'Our labor was
not severe; and that of one year was exactly similar, in almost every
respect, to that of the others, without that endless variety that is to
be observed in common labor of the white people. Notwithstanding the
Indian women have all the fuel and bread to procure, and the cooking to
perform, their task is no harder than that of white women, who have
those articles provided for them; and their cares certainly are not half
as numerous, nor as great. In the summer season, we planted, tended and
harvested our corn, and generally had all the children with us; but had
no master to oversee or drive us, so that we could work as leisurely as
we pleased. We had no ploughs on the Ohio, but performed the whole
process of planting and hoeing with a small tool that resembles a hoe
with a very short handle."
By this method of three sisters cultivation, native people grew 75
percent of their winter food supply with a minimum of work.
In evaluating this practice of girdling, burning and abandonment, it's
important to note that this burning was part of a farming and hunting
society. Abandoned clearings remained part of the food system, since
the tangle of shrubs and brambles that took over the abandoned fields
provided grazing for deer, especially the low growing buds for winter
browse. Thus, the abandoned fields fulfilled the European agricultural
equivalent of a pasture. Deer was an important winter food for the
Northeast forest peoples, but was a supplement to a daily fare of corn,
beans and squash; however, fish was usually their principal form of
animal protein.
One further comment about the method of annual burning is that, while it
many keep weeds in check, it also disrupts the insect ecology of the
land, usually in a detrimental way, since it decimates the beneficials
more than the parasites. Writing on page 196 of his wonderful book
"Enduring Seeds," ethnobotanist and native seed saver Gary Paul Nabhan
had this to say about indigenous farming and insects:
"There are several beneficial insects that are predators or
parasites on potential pests. Crab spiders are our most abundant,
consistent pest predator, and perhaps do a decent job of keeping certain
other insect populations in line. Convergent lady beetles, leafhopper
assassin bugs, praying mantids, green lacewings, and umbrella wasps are
among the dozen other parasatoids and predators. We have no immediate
way to determine whether the cumulative effects of these beneficial
insects are enough to keep a massive outbreak of a single pest from
occurring. These insects are shared between the surrounding vegetation
and crops. The useful wild shrubs planted also support this insect
diversity. The dynamnics of insect populations in a single large patch
of one crop, with wild vegetation cleared around it, would be very
difficult. We must draw on the services of a variety of beneficial
insects for pest management in our plantings rather than using chemical
controls. To do so, we must learn how to foster and maintain these
beneficial insects by meeting their habitat needs in the wild perennial
plant we keep near our native annual crops. It may unlikely that many
Indian farmers intentionally manipulated wild plants in and around their
fields for biological control of crop pests. Nevertheless, they
dispersed their small fields amid natural vegetation, and perhaps
reduced the probability of pest buildup as a consequence."
One final comment. Years ago I read an ethnographer's interview with a
native woman who was over 100 years old. She made the comment that
before the white man came, native people did not have to weed their
gardens. I thought this a bit too much to ascribe weeds to the white
man, but I started to notice the botanical identity of the principal
weeds in my garden, and, sure enough, most of the obnoxious weeds were
European plants, not native vegetation. In part, this is because native
people did not plow the soil, but merely made small mounds one foot high
and three foot across in which they planted their three sisters. Most
pernicious weeds are annual plants that arise from seeds (for example,
mustard) in the first year after sod is broken and soil is turned over.
Further, growing squash was a simple and effective weed control; its
vines grow so thick and fast they shade out most of the weeds.
All this prompts me to post a little article I've been tinkering with
about our experience this year at Earthwise about how to grow an
abundance food in sand. It's called "How to Make Topsoil: transforming
garbage into greengold." It's not finished, but I'll post it anyway as
a new topic. It offers an alternative to slash and burn gardening --
and also to landfills.
-- for a green and peaceful planet, the turtle
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| David Yarrow (turtle) Econet:<jdmann> 315-675-8498 |
| Earthwise Education Center, P.O. Box 91, Camden, NY 13316 |
| "be earthwise, not clockwise" |
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