Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - Kootenay Local Agricultural Society

75, 76. See also sloping land, erosion
of
marginal land cultivation: in developing
countries, 198
Markham, Gervase, 95
marl (crushed limestone; fossil sea shells):
Roman agriculture and, 61; soil
improvement in America and, 121,
124, 129
Marseille harbor, 87
Marsh, George Perkins, 103; Man and
Nature, 68–69
Martin, Patty, 214
Marx, Karl, 109, 235
Maryland, sedimentation rate in, 140
Mayan civilization, 74–78
McCormick, Cyrus, 146
mechanization: American agriculture and,
146–47, 149, 156; high costs of, 150,
157, 158, 160, 161; soil depletion and,
129, 130, 150, 162, 176–77, 203–5
medieval Europe, 89–92
Melvin, James, 104
Mesa Verde, 79
Mesopotamian agriculture, 35–40
Metzontla, Mexico, 78
Mexico, erosion in, 77–78
microorganisms. See soil biota
Middle East, 4, 27, 33; Lowdermilk’s survey
of, 69–73; rise of agriculture in, 30–34
Milledgeville, Georgia gully, 131, 132
milpas (small Mayan fields), 76
minerals: in Amazon region, 116; in clay,
15, 17, 18. See also nutrients in soil
Mirabeau, marquis de, 103
Mississippi, soil research in, 188–90
Mississipppi River basin, soil loss in, 4
Missouri, 153
monoculture: in ancient civilizations, 55;
colonial economics and, 110; Cuban
agriculture and, 230; Guatamala and,
111–12; Irish potato famine and,
108–9; land values and, 194; organic
farms and, 241; productivity and, 159;
slave labor and, 136–37. See also grain
cultivation; tobacco cultivation;
wheat cultivation
Moorish agriculture, 100
Moses (biblical prophet), 70, 72–73
Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, 1
mulching, 175, 191
multicrop system. See crop rotation; interplanting;
polyculture
Mussolini, Benito, 89
Nabataean civilization, 70–71
Nasser, Gamal Abdel, 43
National Academy of Sciences, Board on
Agriculture, 205
National Conference of Catholic Bishops,
233
National Research Council, 159
National Resources Board, 152
Native American cultures: agriculture in
central Mexico and, 77–78; disappearance
of, 79–80; landscape management
by, 117; Mayan agriculture
and, 74–77; reservation lands,
146–47; terra preta soils and, 142–44
Natufian culture, 34
natural gas, fertilizer from, 196–97, 199. See
also fossil fuels, reliance on
natural systems agriculture, 206–7. See also
organic intensive farming
Nauru Island, 187–88
Neanderthal man, 28
Neolithic agriculture, Old World, 33–34,
55, 84–87
Netherlands, soil building in, 93–94
New England agriculture, 117, 119, 121–22,
194
New Zealand: organic vs. conventional
farming in, 209
Nicholas II (czar), 109
Nigeria, soil conservation in, 169
Nile River delta: ancient Egyptian agriculture
and, 40–43; failing fertility of,
43; Roman Empire and, 67–68
Niles Register, 128
nitrate production: munitions and, 195–96,
197
nitrogen, 16, 184, 193; atmospheric capture
of, 195–97; soil biota and, 18, 94, 185,
193
nitrogen fertilization: European agriculture
and, 96; global use of, 196–97; preci-
index 279