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Composting
>I have been asked to help develop a curriculum around composting for grades
>K-12. I believe that work has been done on this and wondered if anyone out
>there might be able to help me connect with it. This project is being
>initiated by the Conway Grammar School in Conway, Massachusetts. If you have
>any information, please contact: Sonia Schloemann, Dept. of Plant Pathology,
>University of Mass., Amherst, MA, 01003 or at sgs@coopext.umass.edu.
>
>Thanks millions!
>
>Sonia
>
> Although this is not the curriculum you requested there is an
excellent resource manual on composting...On-Farm Composting Handbook from
the Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service,152 Riley-Robb Hall,
Cooperative Extension,Ithaca,NY 14853-5701. This is a cost item ...15
dollars I think... it has 11 chapters including ...process, materials,
methods,management envirnomental, uses, marketing, economics,etc...fairly
good and readable...would be appropraite for the secondary level...
Jerry DeWitt
Sus Ag Coord
Iowa State Univ Extension
Ames ,IA 50011
Article 2776 of bionet.plants:
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From: danny@cs.su.oz.au (Danny)
Subject: Book Review - The Origins of Agriculture
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[ Note: I orginally crossposted this to sci.bio.evolution, but the moderator
of that group didn't crosspost it to any of the other groups... ]
title: The Origins of Agriculture
: An Evolutionary Perspective
by: David Rindos (arkeo4@uniwa.uwa.edu.au)
publisher: Academic Press 1984
subjects: evolutionary biology, archaeology
other: 325 pages, bibliography, index
_The Origins of Agriculture_ is an attempt to use the perspective of
evolutionary biology to shed light on what is probably the most
controversial area of human prehistory. The first chapter summarises
the existing literature on the origins of agriculture; the goal here is
to try and loosen the grip of the 'paradigm of consciousness' - the
insistence that intentional changes in human behaviour must lie at the
heart of the 'adoption' of agriculture. The second chapter is a
completely general discussion of evolution and the application of
evolutionary ideas (and in particular selectionism) to culture. This
is a clear, concise account, and one that is not at all specific to the
subject of agriculture; it deserves to be read by a much broader
audience than the book is likely to attract.
The third chapter sets domestic relationships between humans and plants
in the context of a broad range of plant-animal interactions, and of
co-evolutionary relationships more generally. Such relationships are
seen as completely natural phenomena, rather than as something
mysterious. The fourth chapter looks at different aspects of
domestication, considered as coevolution within an ecological
framework. Human-plant relationship are classified according to which
part of the plant is used - reproductive propagules, vegetative parts
or asexual propagules - and according to intensity - into incidental,
specialised and agricultural domestication. The ecological debate
about the relationships between simplicity, complexity and diversity is
touched on, along with the relationship between domestication and
sedentism (including some basic foraging theory) and between
domestication and different (r and K) selective regimes.
The fifth chapter is in many ways the core of the book. Here Rindos
attempts to construct a completely mechanistic model for the origins of
agriculture, building on the foundations laid down in the previous
chapters. The argument is very difficult to follow (it took me as long
to read this chapter as the first four chapters put together) and this
is not because of the mathematics, which are actually quite simple.
The main problem is that the distinctions between the premises, formal
logic and conclusions of the model are not always clearly drawn, and
that the material is repetitive. Despite some problems resulting from
this, however, the chapter succeeds (as far as I can establish) in its
main purpose, which is to construct a model for the origins of
agriculture that requires neither intentional change in human behaviour
nor population pressure as an external driving force. The major
prediction of the model is that domestication is much older than
agriculture.
The final chapter looks at the effects of agriculture on populations.
In particular the development of the agroecology tends to increase
instability and hence emigration rates and demographic fitness; the
rapid spread of agricultural techniques is therefore to be expected.
Some of the implications for the present and future are considered.
_The Origins of Agriculture_ contains an truly extraordinary number of
spelling and grammar mistakes; one suspects the copy-editor or
typesetter must have borne some malice against the author! This is
just annoying, however, and, apart from the comments on chapter five
above, I can recommend this book wholeheartedly. In particular I am
convinced of Rindos' central thesis, and feel that it must be taken
into account (perhaps as a kind of 'neutral' model) by anyone
theorising about the origins of agriculture.
--
%T The Origins of Agriculture - An Evolutionary Perspective
%A David Rindos (arkeo4@uniwa.uwa.edu.au)
%I Academic Press
%C Orlando
%D 1984
%O hardcover, bibliography, index
%G ISBN 0-12-589280-2
%P xvii,325pp
%K evolutionary biology, archaeology
Danny Yee (danny@cs.su.oz.au)
8 IV 1994
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This review and other reviews by Danny Yee are available by anonymous
ftp from ftp.cs.su.oz.au in danny/book-reviews.
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Comments on my reviews are always welcome. Criticism of any kind is
particularly appreciated - anything from pointing out spelling
mistakes to disagreement with the basic assumptions of the review.
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