Ploughed Land Research Articles

Social, aesthetic and ecological aspects of hedgerows in rural landscapes as a framework for greenways

Hedgerow network landscapes may be considered as greenways, as they provide agronomic, ecological, aesthetic and cultural benefits. They are among the most threatened agricultural landscapes of western Europe. Intensification of agriculture with the conversion of permanent grassland into ploughed land and the use of new machinery leads to the enlargement of fields and the removal of hedgerows surrounding them. There is a growing concern among conservationists, rural managers and the public to maintain these greenways as a framework for landscape sustainability. In France, hedgerow removal may be planned within reallotment programmes that take into account all the land of a municipality. In this planning process, criteria for keeping or clearing woody elements are based on agronomic properties of soil, environmental quality of elements and of the network, and property boundaries. Aesthetic aspects are rarely assessed. As rural landscapes are shifting from an almost unique function of agricultural production toward a multifunction of nature conservation, environmental protection, amenity and production, the conservation of hedgerow networks becomes of greater importance. The goal is now the protection of these greenways to provide not only ecological but also recreational and cultural benefits. In a case study in Brittany, we tried to link these different aspects. Our work is based on interviews and a landscape ecological survey. We found contrasting opinions between farmers and non-farmers concerning the density of the network. Nevertheless, the two groups agree on the necessity to keep greenways as part of their cultural landscape. Most of the people were not aware of the ecological role of hedgerow networks, and perceive them only by their visual properties. We proposed various scenarios based on ecological and aesthetic principles, and defined general guidelines for the design of new landscapes during reallotment programmes. The integration of different points of view by landscape planners is the only way to link visual values to productive or ecological processes, and must be effective in the case of the management of greenways such as hedgerows.

On the problem of land melioration on the Chinese Loess Plateau

The Loess Plateau in Northwestern China, with 60 million inhabitants, is strongly endangered by heavy erosion quickly decreasing soil fertility and yield of crops, causing also severe problems in the main river of the area, uplifting its bed by strong sedimentation. This situation is mainly due to improper land use, cutting woods, ploughing up grasslands which are the consequence of the decreasing yield of former plough lands. This vicious cycle may only be disrupted by a proper land management based on the newest results of scientific research, on up to date data bases as well as on traditional methods. The land melioration methods must primarily aim at a prevention of further erosion and at an increase of infiltration by different methods, but all means of a proper country planning and development should be harmonised in order of halting of further deterioration of the area.

Chemical fractionation of lake sediments to determine the effects of land-use change on nutrient loading

Lake studies allow contemporary sediment and nutrient dynamics to be placed in a historical context in order that trends and rates of change in catchment inputs may be calculated. Here, a synthesis of the temporal information contained in catchment and lake sediment records is attempted. A chemical fractionation technique is used to isolate the different sediment sources contained in the lake core, and 210Pb dates provide an accurate record of changes in lake sediment sources over the past 100 years. The extent to which land-use records, collated from agricultural census returns, and process-based studies of sediment and nutrient export from different catchment land uses can be used to explain the trends observed in the lake sediments is examined. Sediment influx to the study lake has increased from less than 2 mm year −1 prior to the Second World War to over 10 mm year −1 at present. The source of the sediment is largely unaltered and unweathered allochthonous material eroded from the catchment. Land-use records suggest that the intensification of agriculture, characterized by a shift towards arable land immediately postwar, followed by an increase in the area of temporary grass in the 1960s, may be the cause of accelerated catchment erosion; both land-use changes would have increased the area of ploughed land in the catchment. An increase in the number of cattle and sheep in the catchment from around 2000 and 6000, respectively, in the 1940s, to a peak of nearly 7000 cattle and over 15 000 sheep in the 1980s, provides a further source of sediment and nutrients. Livestock are grazed on permanent grassland which is commonly located on steep hillslopes and in riparian zones where saturation-excess surface runoff may be an important hydrological pathway. Rainfall simulation experiments show that surface runoff from heavily grazed grassland has a high suspended sediment, ammonium-nitrogen and particulate phosphorus load. The combined effect of the long-term increase in the organic loading from livestock and the inorganic N and P load from fertilizers, may be the source of nutrient enrichment in the lake.

The effect of tropical forest conversion on soil microbial biomass

We investigated the effects of converting forest to savanna and plough land on the microbial biomass in tropical soils of India. Conversion of the forest led to a significant reduction in soil organic C (40–46%), total N (47–53%), and microbial biomass C (52–58%) in the savanna and the plough land. Among forest, savanna, and plough land, basal soil respiration was maximum in the forest, but the microbial metabolic quotient (qCO2 was estimated to be at a minimum in the forest and at a maximum in the plough land.

Recent levels of 90Sr activity in the environment of the Krško nuclear power plant

The activity of 90Sr was measured in samples of soil, plants, fruit and arable crops collected in 1987 and 1988 from the environment of the Krško nuclear power plant, Slovenia, Yugoslavia. Of the terrestrial samples, much higher activities of 90Sr per g Ca were observed in turf relative to ploughed land. In agricultural produce, the highest activities were observed in root crops and the lowest in fruit. A considerable decrease in activity was observed in the samples collected during 1988.

137Cs fallout depth distributions in forest versus field sites: Implications for external gamma dose rates

The depth profile of 137Cs fallout in soil from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests was measured at neighboring field and forest areas for seven sites in the northeastern US. The inferred dose rates in air at 1 m above the ground per unit inventory of 137Cs averaged a factor of 1·8 higher in the forest as compared to the field areas. Calculations indicate that the dose rate in forest areas would be a factor of four higher than that over deeply plowed land. Based on a limited set of historical measurements made since 1972, it appears that the dose rate per unit inventory in both field and forest areas has more or less stabilized after a sharp decrease following deposition events in the early 1960s. Estimated dose commitments for various land types are compared to the value suggested by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and the implications with respect to certain population groups are discussed. The findings may have application in estimating future external doses from deposited 137Cs associated with Chernobyl fallout in Europe.

Nitrate concentrations in river waters in the south-east of Ireland and their relationship with agricultural practice

Nitrate concentrations in river waters in south-east Ireland are generally well below the permissible concentrations specified in the EC directives on the quality of water used or intended for human consumption. However, the advisory “guide” level has been exceeded on occasion in some rivers, mainly during winter when nitrate concentrations are highest. When river nitrate load (g/s N) was plotted against river flow on a log-log scale it was noted that better linear relationships were obtained when separate graphs were prepared for the November–April and May–October periods. Nitrate levels were significantly above normal in 1986, the very wet summers of 1985 and 1986 being the suspected cause as levels dropped again in 1987. Agricultural statistics showed a direct relationship between river nitrate concentrations and the percentage of land area ploughed in the river catchment. It was estimated that the mean nitrogen loss from land to rivers in the region was 2.0 kg/ha/yr N for unploughed land compared to 76 kg/ha/yr for ploughed land.

Growth Parameter Differences between Populations of Blue Grama

Samples of blue grama were obtained from disturbed and undisturbed areas of native rangeland in southeast Wyoming. Assumed ‘slow-spread’ populations were selected along a 50-year-old plowline from blue grama sod which had spread only a few centimeters into the plowed area. Assumed ‘fast-spread’ populations were selected from large plants within the plowed area. Control populations were selected at random from the undisturbed native range. Plants from 15 populations were grown in a dryland, uniform garden where basal spread was measured to determine if there were differences in rate of spread between populations of blue grama. Herbage production, plant height, and phenology were also compared. By the end of the second and fourth seasons of growth in the uniform garden, the fast-spread populations had spread 21 and 20% more than the slow-spread populations. The random populations were 17 and 11% larger than the slow-spread populations during the same year. The fast-spread and random populations were not different. Throughout the Central Great Plains there are many marginal areas which were cultivated and then, when drought conditions prevailed, allowed to return to native vegetation. Costello (1944) detailed the steps of natural revegetation of abandoned plowed land (old fields) in northeastern Colorado. He stated that in some instances blue grama [Bourelouu grucilis (H.B.K.) Lag ex Griffiths] appeared on old fields during the initial stage of revegetation, although its abundance was quite low and its presence may have been overlooked. Blue grama may not become dominant in the vegetation until 20-50 years after abandonment. Tomanek et al.

Tillage practices for soil and water conservation in the semi-arid zone I. Management of fallow during the rainy season preceding cotton

Field and laboratory experiments were conducted on a crusting loess soil in the northern Negev (Israel) with the aim of improving the efficiency of the use of rain by row crops, either in dryland or irrigated farming, and to decrease erosion. The specific objective of the experiments described was to develop methods that enhance infiltration of rainfall during the winter fallow season in an area with a mean annual rainfall of 400 mm which is subject to wide variation. It was found that the traditional tillage system consisting of deep ploughing (35–45 cm) of dry soil in the fall followed by disking, smoothing and ridging is the worst choise as it could result in runoff losses of as much as 60% of the rainfall, accompanied by accelerated erosion. This water loss can be critical to the success of dryland cotton and also determines whether or not a pre-irrigation of about 25% of the total annual water allotment must be given to irrigated cotton. The traditional practice was compared with: deep ploughed land left fallow during the entire rainy season; ridging after subsoiling instead of deep ploughing; subsoiling and ridging carried out in one minimum tillage operation; direct ridging without primary tillage and basin tillage of ridges following either deep ploughing, subsoiling or minimum tillage. This study showed that by far the most effective method for enhancing infiltration and eliminating runoff was the basin tillage system. The method is adaptable both to mechanized farming and to farming based on animal power or manual labour, and its application can ensure success where rainfall is limiting. It was found that laboratory characterization of soil hydraulic properties with a static rainfall simulator allows prediction of runoff on crusting soils. This means that the need for, and the effectiveness of, conservation measures may be estimated using disturbed soil samples, which is quicker and cheaper than field tests.

Realism and the Heroic: Some Reflections on War Novels

As Henley's Lyra Heroica bears witness, the literary imagination had for generations engaged too naively with themes of war and heroism, partly under the influence of epic and romance traditions which had an increasingly tenuous connexion with military circumstances of the day. In the realistic novel, however, we find a corrective: a potentially more adequate, more inclusive, and more contemporary way of treating this material. The documentary nature of realism, its particularity of description; its drive towards psychological as well as social exploration, its commitment to truth both of inner experience and of outward circumstance, all made it an appropriate mode and the novel an appropriate medium. An early but classic demonstration of its potential is Stendhal's presentation of the battle of Waterloo through the innocent eye ofFabrizio del Dongo: Suddenly they all moved off at full gallop. A few minutes later Fabrizio saw, twenty paces ahead of him, a ploughed field the surface of which was moving in a singular fashion. The furrows were full of water and the soil, very damp, which formed the ridges between these furrows kept flying off in little black lumps three or four feet into the air. Fabrizio noticed as he passed this curious effect; then his thoughts turned to dreaming of the Marshal and his glory. He heard a sharp cry close to him; two hussars fell struck by shot; and, when he looked back at them, they were already twenty paces behind the escort. What seemed to him horrible was a horse streaming with blood that was struggling on the ploughed land, its hooves

Detection of Ridge and Furrow Pattern by Spectral Analysis of Crop Yield

The yields of wheat grain and straw obtained by Mercer & Hall in their classic uniformity trial have been re-analysed, and two-dimensional correlograms and spectra computed. The results for both grain and straw show a striking periodicity in the west-east dimension with a wavelength of three rows of plots, equal to between 33 and 50 ft (10 m-15 m). This wavelength is somewhat less than the width of the plough lands at the time of the trial, and is attributed to an earlier ridge and furrow system. The correlogram and spectrum for straw yield show some periodicity in the north-south dimension, probably caused by ploughing at right angles to the current lands in one or more previous seasons.

Age and significance of alluvium in the Windrush valley, Oxfordshire

The floodplain deposits of the upper Thames and its tributaries commonly comprise 0.5–1 m of clay alluvium overlying, with a sharp boundary, a variable thickness of sandy limestone gravel. Samples of wood (probably alder root) from the top of the gravel in a temporary exposure (SP 360084) in the floodplain of the river Windrush, south of Witney, Oxfordshire, gave a radiocarbon date of 2,660±85 yr BP (I-9337); these roots had been truncated at the gravel/clay interface. Here we consider the sequence of events and the possible causes of this change to clay deposition; we conclude that the latter resulted chiefly from a rapid increase in local forest clearance and in the amount of ploughed land, after 2,660 yr BP.

Factors Affecting the Diet of Farmland Skylarks, Alauda arvensis

SUMMARY (1) The diets of skylarks on three farmland areas, determined by faecal analysis, are described and compared. Similarities between the feeding ecology of some of the common farmland bird species are pointed out. (2) The feeding rates and the sizes and metabolizable energy contents of food items are established for skylarks using each of the three main winter foraging methods. This permits the calculation of rates of metabolizable energy intake from foraging. (3) Birds fed on cereal grain from stubbles and sowings when it was available. These food sources gave rates of energy intake higher than were found for the other foraging methods. However these other food sources were used to some extent even when grain was widely available. (4) When cereal grain was unavailable, in late winter, skylarks could either search ploughed land for weed seeds or graze the leaves of winter wheat. The rate of energy intake possible from feeding on seeds varied with seed size and density but that from grazing was relatively constant from field to field. Birds spent more time foraging for seeds on ploughed land than grazing only where seed densities and sizes allowed a higher rate of energy intake from searching for seeds than from grazing. Where seed densities were low, leaves formed the greater part of the food in late winter.

Pollution Potential of Manure Spread on Frozen Ground

AbstractThe nutrient content of snowmelt runoff was measured to determine the contribution of manure applied to frozen plots on which corn (Zea mays L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) were grown. Nutrient concentrations in spring runoff were high from all manured plots, compared to unmanured plots, but total nutrient losses varied greatly depending on type of soil surface receiving the manure and time of application. Up to 20% of the N and 16% of the ortho‐P in the manure was carried away in spring runoff from alfalfa plots while no more than 3% of the N and 4% of the ortho‐P was lost from manured fall‐plowed plots. Applying manure to frozen plowed land reduced soil losses 100% and runoff up to 80%.

Comparisons of liquid and solid fertilizers and anhydrous ammonia for sugar beet

SUMMARYSix field experiments (1963–8) in eastern England compared solid fertilizer with liquid fertilizer or anhydrous ammonia for sugar beet. Two glasshouse experiments investigated the interaction between depth of placement of fertilizer and soil moisture.Yields of sugar were the same from broadcast solid and sprayed liquid in all the experiments, but nitrogen uptake by the crop was less from liquid than from solid. Three experiments tested placement of liquid 4 in to the side and either 2 or 6 in below the seed. Plants with deep-placed fertilizer consistently out-yielded those with shallowplaced fertilizer, but yields were never significantly different from broadcast solid fertilizer. Dry-matter yields of sugar beet grown in containers indoors showed that the crop responded to deep placement when the surface soil was watered infrequently.With anhydrous ammonia injected during seed-bed preparation, sugar yield and nitrogen uptake were the same as with solid fertilizer in the seed bed, and were greater than with anhydrous ammonia injected in the ploughed land during early spring. A side-band injection of anhydrous ammonia before singling gave a crop containing as much nitrogen at harvest as, but less sugar than, nitrogen applied in the seed bed.

Small Doses of D‐D Soil Fumigant to Control Free‐living Nematodes Injurious to Sugar Beet

SUMMARYSmall doses of D‐D kill many free‐living nematodes in sandy soil and can significantly increase yields of sugar and barley grain. The fumigant can be placed during ploughing and its position indicated by drilling rows of winter wheat at intervals on the ploughed land. The rows of wheat act as markers in the spring and allow spring‐sown crops to be drilled in the fumigated bands of soil.

The Formation of Horticulture in Kochi Prefecture and its Regional Evolution

In Japan, farmers of the small landownership are mainly attended to their vegetable productions with diligence. Even vegetables produced at a long-distance are also provided for the supply of cities (city dwellers). During the winter season, above all, venyle-house stands side by side at the warmer villages along the Pacific coast than Tokyo and Osaka, and there lots of greens are prepared for by means of the forcing culture. As a representative of these districts, the author has investigated Kochi prefecture and the facts obtained are as follows:1) In Kochi prefecture, forcing culture of vegitables begins in the 1920's, this is a producing area of an early truck-farming in Japan. A mild winter and the long sunshine mainly brought production of forcing-vegetables on a largescale. Another different ground of this prosperity is better service at the window (route): Products and their producers in Kochi prefecture banded together to make selling to each big city. Vegetables appended on the trade-mark label of Kochi have got the credit of the market-places, by supplying of constant large quantity of greens for the marketing.2) Though forcing vegetables can maintain business relation with high price in each market, all the same, net profit per farm-house is not so much. Because it took farmer much time and cost him a great deal of money for production facilities to continue the work. In Kochi prefecture, recompense per hour of farmers is equivalent to 49% (in case of cucumber culture) as compared with the income of farmers in the suburban districts of Osaka city. It showed that, that is to say, they sell their labour cheaper than farmers close to cities.3) At the village of To-no-Hama in Yasuda-cho situated near the Cape Muroto, according to the author's searching inquiry, the farmers' average acreage under cultivation is 0.7 hectare. In summer they try to cultivate paddy rice and grow greens in winter in the same cultivated field. The earnest farmers to raise vegetables have 0.7-1.0 hectare area of plowed land for their cultivation. Compared with the farmers owning 1.0-1.4 hectare area, they have unfavorable conditions with their land under cultivation: this arable land is at a long distance from their residence, more humid, and lower temperature in winter than land owned belonging to a large-scale farmer. Notwithstanding the disadvantageous condition for growing vegetables, they carry on cultivating greens with the bigger extent under crop area than the other classes of farmers. Curiously enough, farmers having over 1.0 hectare held their cultivation of greens for fear of being cursed by soil fatigue.4) Recently, it has been found, forcing culture of vegetables even in the villages of the inland area situated at the eastern district in the Kochi plain. Farmers having over 1.5 hectare land under cultivation are mostly engaged in cultivation of forcing vegetable. This is due to needing the capital for the green-house heated by boiler-steam.Farmers along the coastal villages moved first to this eastern area, and made a start on their forcing culture. It is caused that they cannot trust any longer in the plowed land, because of small and unsystematic land readjustment, scanty water for irrigation (in needy circumstances) and plenty of soil fatigues. Dwellers in these areas follow these farming techniques to try to grow the forcing culture by use of the giant-sized venyle-house, and are introducing many farming machines for their land under cultivation in these villages. They have a promising future, as it trys hard to enhance the labour to efficiency value, though net-profit of farmers per hour are lower than that of them in the suburban districts of big cities.

A Regional Study of a Flood-Disaster

A flood-disaster is not a mere natural phenomenon but a regional one which figures as synthesis of natural conditions and social conditions the latter of which have influence upon the former. Starting from this point of view, I chose as the object of investigation the flood-disaster on August 15th, 1953, in the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture (Minamiyamashiro).The distinctive feature of the damage by the flood in Minamiyamashiro was destruction of houses and casualities done to men. Although it was partly due to the torrential rain limited to one particular locality, the immediate cause was that the dykes of the up-floored rivers, many of which are seen in this district, were broken. The flood-disaster at Ide-cho serves as an example of the damage done by the above-mentioned cause. And, the up-floored rivers in the district were made by human agency, not by nature at all. Namely, grit and sand were carried down the lower reaches of a river owing to reckless deforestation at the basin of the uppor stream; and people at the basin of the downstream made an embankment higher and higher lest the grit and sand should not flow into the ploughed land. Why, then, such land utilization as this is still conducted which is easy to cause a flood-disaster? The answer to this was worked out by analysis as to how infinitesimal peasantry who owed woodlands in the district ran their works. By the analysis were known the actual circumstances of the infinitesiman farmers who are unable to maintain themselves by any other means but reckless deforestation and cultivation of tea garden; and that woodlands denudation is made worse by the fact that there are ample funds for facilities of forest roads which promote deforestation, while there is deficiency in circulating capital for expenses of afforestation which such farmers as aforementioned can not afford. In short, what brings a flood-disaster is a contradiction between the public good (conserving water power) and the economic phase (profit made by deforestation) of woodlands.

The Man Who Walked Alone

tN the ordinary way, M'Tundu and his twin sister would have had boiling Xwater poured into their mouths at birth. The midwives would have seen to that and to the burying of the ill-omened twin in a broken earthern pot in the swamp. Their mother would never have set eyes on them had the mission doctor not been touring the district. He was called in by a distracted young husband whose fear of losing his bride was greater than his-obedience to tribal custom. The doctor, who knew something of the presenbed fate of a twin, took the two infants away with him to the rnission hospital, but in spite of the care taken of her the prl died. M'Tundu throve, and by the time he was three years old he was a sturdy, intelligent boy. The missionaries were reluctant to part with him when his grandnlother sent for him, but the old lady lived at some distance from the village where he +7vas born, and it seemed fairly safe. She swore by the Spirits that she would see that no harm came to him, and it would be better for the child to be brought up among his own people, for a de-tnbalised native is not as a rule a very happy person. Memories are short, and besides very few people knew of the unlucky circumstances of M'Tundu's birth. He was accepted as the Srst-born grandson of old Malulu and all would probably have been well but for the fact that nineWmonths after his arnval his little brother was born hopelessly deforrned. This time no interfering mission doctor was near and so the midwives were able to dispose of the baby at once, but the bereaved mother was frantic with Fef. The thought that she was beanng a normal child had sustained her through her diicult labour. Fasting and tormented by thirst (for to eat or dnnk would kill the child within her) she moved about the dark busaken (nest) shut in with bush and mats at the back of her hut. A big wooden mortar was provided for her to lean against when the pains came upon her, and she submitted to the kneading hands and feet of the midwives without flinching. Iwhe more they hurt her, the sooner, she thought, would she see her child. When at length he was born she looked upon him once. Then, with a terrible cry, she fell back. During the following bushana (penod of segregation) she had plenty of time to brood over the misfortune which dogged her. Forthe time being she svas outside the pale of society. She was not allowed to walk in the ploughed land or to fetch food from the dulas (storehouses). Her specially prepared meals she ate with the emblem of death a spoon in solitude. Her miLk she squeezed from her breasts upon the ground at the back of her hut, lest it or the dangerous blood of the birth should bring death to the village.

Farming in Irish Life

Ireland lacks a general land utilization survey comparable with that of Great Britain, though i-inch-to-the-mile maps are being compiled for t e whole of Northern Ireland and some fragments of Eire. This article must therefore be of a tentative nature as it is based largely on statistical materials available, on various studies dealing with particular aspects of agricultural life of country, and on field work of author, his students, and members of Irish Geographical Society. The treatment rests on a recognition of economic difference between Northern Ireland and Eire at present time, and on a correlation between actual size of farms and their economy, followed by a summary account of agricultural production and an assessment of connection between farming and population problem. No attempt is made to romanticize rural communities who, in many cases, live in conditions of considerable hardship though they are unquestionably more fortunate than their predecessors of fifty or a hundred years ago. As more than one-third of Irish population depends directly on agriculture for a living and landscape is primarily rural rather than urban, it is reasonable to regard farming as key to country's social geography. The agricultural problems of Ireland may be viewed historically, politically, and commercially and, perhaps most important of all, in terms of social welfare. Safety lies in consideration of commercial factors alone, but such an approach is entirely inadequate in a country with a stormy political history, much of which has centred around occupation and ownership of land and difficulty of making a living. Contemplation of Irish rural scene may lead to such despairing comments as that of C. H. Oldham x who wrote in 1914 that the pitiful ii-i% devoted to ploughed land offers no adequate basis for employment of agricultural population . . . in arts of using a most fertile soil in business of agriculture, Ireland is but a ruined land, wasted and withered by fifty-years-long struggle to settle question of land tenure. Even so, a true assessment of country's life demands recognition of its agricultural basis, as Ireland lacks concentrated industrial development seen in such areas as West Riding of Yorkshire, parts of Lancashire, or Black Country. Only in and around Belfast is modern heavy industry superimposed on a primarily agricultural foundation; elsewhere factories exist chiefly to process agricultural staples or to meet needs of rural communities. Even great linen industry of north-east has risen on a basis of flax growing and processing on actual farmsteads.