Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - Kootenay Local Agricultural Society

278
Joppa Town, Maryland, 140
Judson, Sheldon, 62
Kalmyk Republic, Russia, 164–65
Kansas State Board of Agriculture, 154
Kentucky, soil in, 123
Kenya, erosion rates in, 168–69
Khrushchev, Nikita, 43, 163–64
King, Franklin, 192
Kirch, Patrick, 221, 224
labor-intensive agriculture: agroecology
and, 244–46; in Cuba, 231; dense
populations and, 169; developing
countries and, 242; Roman Republic
and, 58; technolgy-intensive systems
and, 160, 242; terracing and, 72. See
also small farms
Lake Bussjösjö, Sweden, 88
Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), 72
Lake Pátzcuaro, Mexico, 77
land enclosures, 90, 91, 92, 94, 96,
98–99
Land Institute, Salina, Kansas, 206–7
land ownership: advent of, 38; agricultural
reform and, 134, 244, 245–46; Chinese
Revolution and, 199; European
land enclosure and, 94, 96, 98; government
policies in Haiti and, 229,
230; plantations in Guatamala and,
111–12; productivity and, 194
land reform: agitation for, in developing
countries, 110–12; Chinese Revolution
and, 110–11; developing countries
and, 110–12; Reformation and, 92–93;
in Russia, 109
land stewardship, 3–4, 50, 129, 210, 246.
See also soil conservation
latifundia (cash crop-oriented estates), 63
Lavoisier, Antoine, 183
Lawes, John Bennet, 183–84, 207
lawns, 201–2
Lebanon, 71–72
legume cultivation, 61, 94, 185, 193. See also
crop rotation
Liebig, Justus von, 183
life, relation between earth and, 14–17, 27,
104, 202
index
lifespan of civilizations: estimation of, 236;
factors in, 3, 5–6; historical patterns
in, 49, 236–37; longevity of Egypt
and, 41–43; maintenance of soil fertility
and, 189; Tikopia Island and,
223–24; treatment of soil and, 236,
237–38. See also boom-and-bust cycle;
ecological suicide
limestone, 18
Lincoln, Abraham, 68, 135, 137
Little Ice Age (1430-1850), 92
Livius, Titus, 64
loam, 17, 156
Loess Plateau, China, 182
loess soils: in China, 182; in Europe, 83, 86,
91; glaciers and, 145; Great Plains and,
145, 147, 148, 152; regions wth, 171,
244; soil loss tolerance rates and, 172;
in Washington State, 160–63, 162. See
also dust storms
Lorain, John: Nature and Reason Harmonized
in the Practice of Husbandry, 127
Lowdermilk, Walter, 44–46, 69–73, 104,
155, 156
Lucretius, 66
Lyell, Charles, 131, 131–33
Maathai, Wangari, 169
Madison, James, 123, 126–27
maize cultivation, 74
Mallory, Walter, 181
Malthus, Thomas: Essay on the Principle of
Population, 106–7, 108, 109, 235
Mangaia Island, 221–22, 224
manure: ancient cultures and, 61; benefits
of, 130, 183; domestication of animals
and, 36; European agriculture and,
94, 95, 96, 98; as innovation, 180; as
nitrogen source, 185; reluctance of
Americans to use, 121, 122, 124, 126,
127–28; soil fertility and, 94, 200–201.
See also human waste, as fertilizer
Mao Ze-dong, 110–11
marginal land, cultivation of: in American
South, 188; in ancient Greece, 52,
55; Central America and, 112–13; in
China, 180–81, 182; in Europe, 84,
93, 100–102; Mayan civilization and,