Issue Number 86 by Peter Bodie

40p

AUG-SEPT 1983. No 35 .

-cac:: I..

for those trying to live from

the lan~

...

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.~LIL

, ,_Rural cO-OPS, reen .Dlanures, _

HOMOEOPATHV.

Jack Eising and Nuala Hughes.

In the U.K. and Ireland, hOloeopathy is perhaps the lost widely known of the .any types of treat.ent in the field of natural .edicine. In the U.K., hOloeopathic treatlent is available on the National Health service. There are a considerable nu.ber of orthodox doctors who offer hOlOeopathic treat.ent as well as conventional treat.ent. One of the personal physicians to the Queen of England is a hOloeopath. (liedo not suggest that thi5 is a recollendationj but it does serve to illustrate that hOloeopathy is a widely accepted fori of treataenti. HOloeopathy is derived frol the Greek word 'holoios", leaning "like". HOloeopathy is the practice of treating like with like. The principles on which hOloeopathy are based were known to Hippocrates and Paracelsus, as is apparent frol their writings, but its present day use stels frol the work of Saluel Hahnelann, a doctor living in Serlany during the last half of the 18th century. Although he was apparently well regarded among his contelporaries for his ledical skill, Hahnemann becale discouraged by the prevailing medical practices. He gradually withdrew frol active practice and engaged hilself in translating and writing on ledical and scientific subjects. While translating an article on the action of the chinchona bark, frol which quinine is derived, - inthe treatment of inter.ittent fevers, he began experilenting with the drug. He disfovered that, in a healthy person, the effects of the drug closely resembled the SYlptOIS for which it is recollended. As a result, he suggested that the drug's efficacy in the treatlent of fever was due to the fact that it could cause fever. This is now accepted as the first principle of hOloeopathy: like cures like. Thus, to cure a fever, a reledy is given that, in its crude fori, would cause fever. Hahnelann and- his followers carried out experiments on thelselves (called Provingsi in which they took slall doses of various substances, lany poisonous, over long periods of tile, carefully noting the SYlptols they produced. Patients suffering frol sililar SYlptOIS were then treated with these substances. Hahnelann found that, although the treatlent proved ta be effective, conventional doses of the reledies often produced an initial aggravation of the SYlptOIS. He began experilRentingwith ssaller doses to linilize this effect, and found that, when the dilution was done in a specific lanner, the curative value was enhanced by dilution. This tithod of dilution is referred to as potentisation, and it represents the second law of hOloeopathy: the slaller the dose, the greater the effect. Hahnelann and other hOloeopaths through the years have continued the proving of lany substances until today the reledies available nutber in the thousands. HOloeopathy, like all forls of natural ledicine, is based on the prelise t~at the hUlan

body has an inate capacity to heal itself. The action of a hOloeopathic reledy is to stilulate the body's own curative powers. This is in direct contrast to the conventional forts of treatlent, which generally give drugs which are designed to elilinate certain organisls. In hOloeopathic treatlent, the body takes an active role in the curative treatlent, whereas in orthodox treatlent the body is regarded as little lore than a battlefield for a war between the drug and the infective organisl. The action of a hOloeopathic remedy is dialetrically opposite to the action of orthodox drugs. Illness is general!y the result of an ilbalance in the body. For one reason or another, the body's natural healing power lay becole blocked, 50 that the body seels to be incapable of dealing with the illness. OrthodoK tedicines are based on the principle of opposites cancelling. For eXilple, in the case of a nervous co.plaint, a cOllon orthodox treatlent would be valiul. The effect of this is to iapose an artificial iebalance on top of the ilbalance that is already there. In other words, the patient is given a chemically induced illness in the hope of cancelling out the existing illness. Since the effect of the valiul is stronger than the original complaint, the symptols

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HOloeopathic reledies have'becole readily available in the shops, often accolpanied by only scanty inforlation as to their use. It is contrary to the whole concept of hOloeopathy to give reledies on the basis of disease nales. Holoeopathic prescribing -is luch less well defined and consequently luch lOre' difficult to apply. Indiscrilinate use of reledies can cause problels for the user. Also, the potency and the frequency' of the reledy given are very ilportant in the treatlent, of the person, and require the knowledge of an experienced practitioner. We would therefore caution people when considering the use of a reledy without referring to a hOloeopath. The length of treatlent by hOloeopathic leans will vary with the individual. Rapid results can be achieved in acute illnesses, but if the person is suffering frol a chronic condition, or if his or her vitality is low, the treatlent lay well be long terl. HOloeopathy is not a cure-all , nor an elixir ·of life. Rather it is a way of looking at people in their surroundings and enabling thel to increase their harlony and well-being. It does not reject the great discoveries of lodern ledical science, but only their cOllerical abuse. In its present fori, hOloeopathy has stood the test of 150 years and as good ledicine it is part of a healing tradition which extends over lany centuries to the present day •

of the original cOlplaint are suppressed and a 'cure' is clailed. If, however, hOloeopathic treatlent is used to treat the nervous condition, the patient would be given a ·sililar· reledy. That is, a reaedy which in a healthy person would produce SYlptOlS which are sililar (but not necessarily identical) to those exhibited by the patient. The effect on the body is to stilulate the healing force, so that the .body elilinates. the effect of the retedy and the original cOlplaint silultaneously. In other words, orthodox treatlent tends to suppress illness, while hOloeopathic treatlent ailS to force the illness outwards. The hOloeopathic practitioner ailS to treat the patient rather than the illness. It is therefore necessary to learn soaething about the patient, and the first session with a hOloeopath generally consists of a lengthy interview during which the patient lay be asked what appear to be irrelevant questions; perhaps unrelated to his or her illediate. coaplaint. These questions serve to create a picture in the hOloeopath's lind of the patient in relation to the various' reledies, and will thus enable the hOloeopath to prescribe the correct reledy. It is not uncollon that two people going to a hOloeopath with the sale cOlplaint will be given different reledies. The person, rather than the cOlplaint, is treated. At this point, a word of caution would be . appropriate regarding self-prescribing of reledies.

LETTERS Independent Hostels. From Bernard Edwards, The Mountain Hut, Glencar, Co. Kerry. COlplete self-sufficiency is an ilpossible dreal - thank goodness! "y wife and I have installed bunk beds in our hOle and now use it as a hostel. Now we have a great tile leeting people frol lany parts of the world, chatting to thel about their, and our, lifestyles, collecting fees, parting friends, and directing thel to other Independent Hostels. Unfortunately at present we have not sufficient privately owned hostels for visitors to Ireland to travel the whole length of the 'country, and the North-West is particularly lacking. This year for the first tile we published a booklet, which we sell for 20p, giving details of those of us who have foraed this loosely knit association. Starting frol the south of Ireland we have one in Baltilore, Co. Cork. The next two are in 6lencar, Co. Kerry, next is Dingle and Stradbally, 'and on to Co. Clare; - two in Liscannor, one in Doolin, and one in Fanore. Kinvara, Galway, Lieenane are all in Co. Galway. Lastly we have one in Co. "ayo, and two in Donegal. For those travelling back to Dublin a slall hostel is recollended there. Since the booklet was printed a couple lore wish to be included in the next edition. Why not join us? Ideally, to suit cyclists needs, each should be about 50 liles apart, and hostels on lain roads attract lany lore hitch-hikers. Although I have not let lany owners I believe we're quite a lixed bunch consisting of Irish,' British, Alerican and Continentals. A few, owners do breakfast, IY wife and I do full leals, but other hostels provide a kitchen with stoves/utensils for travellers to prepare their own food. A dining rool and also showers are usual. We are getting a long way towards pursuading the Irish Tourist Board to recognise us, and to provide plenty of publicity but An Oige, the official Youth Hostel Association is strongly opposed to us. Without the lany self i.posed restrictions. the Irish Independent Hostels are likely to be the lore popular. If you feel you would enjoy this extra source of incole either write to Patrick O'Donnell, at Booey Hostel, GlencolulbHlle, Co. Donegal, er te le anlri booklet will be sent on to you. But please include a couple of stalps!

•

RURAL

COMMUNITY

IN AFRICA

DEVELOPMENT

AND

Co-operative cOI.unity developlent is an entirely attractive idea: me.bers of a rural coe.unity cOling together to better their lot without loss of control of their own community. Such an attractive idea would seem to have more than a good chance of working in practice. But rarely is rural co-operative cOimunity development an unqual i+i ed success.Even when financially or materially the achieveeents are real, lore often than not the ideal of ce-operati ve organi sation and control remains at best an unrealised ideal - the reality being that the development is dependent upon one or two dominant leaders. The one-day seminar held in Kiltyclogher was organised in the hope that an exalination of a number of co-operatives in the NW of Ireland and in Africa light serve to indicate sOle factors that commonly determine the success or failure of rural co-operatives, both in material and co-operative

REPORT.

Garreth Byrne.

What are the problels of ilplementing projects in relote rural areas? Is the task of surmounting difficulties too great and would it be better to encourage dynamic young people to ligrate to the 'cities and allow the older generation in the villages to wallow in their helplessness and lack of enterprise? I al a cautious optilist. I believe remote regions should not be allowed to die. I think it is inviting demographic and ecological disaster to allow unchecked ligration frol the countryside to the city. Yet I would not try to rOlanticise the struggle to achieve viable cOlmunity in rural society. Life in rural areas can be lonely, suspicious and sour. The hOlely social solidarity

AND CO-OPERATION NORTH-WEST

IRELAND

terms. The five case studies, introduced and placed in a wider context of co-operative history by Pat Bolger, were both interesting and instructive, as was the discussion that followed, but it cannot be claimed that many significant generalisations were arrived at - perhaps partly because of the seemingly deep-seated dislike of dwelling on failure and the causes thereof. Self-help and commu~ity development are likely to become increasingly important as State and EEC purses become lore evidently empty, 50 we felt it was worthwhile to not only include a report of the seminar by Garreth Byrne, but also to print a summary of the papers relat~d to the co-operatives in the NNof Ireland. In this issue we include the paper on the North Leitrim Vegetable Growers cooperative, and hope to have the other two papers in the next issue of The Newsletter.

of the old Irish ~~ttQ~!l system has died out in most places - and was often counterbalanced by vicious falily antagonisms when it did operate several generations ago. The realities of life in the North West have impressed themselves upon me during the past year and a half I've spent living in an isolated cottage in County Leitril. Life in rural Africa also witnesses the collision between rOlanticist and reality. I have lived in the Zambian bush as well as in the watersodden wilderness of North Leitril. (See article in issue 32.) So when letbers of North Leitril Vegetable Growers Association cale up with the idea of a comparative worKshop on co-op development efforts

in rural Africa and the NorthWest of Ireland, I said to lyself:·This lay be the synthesis I've been looking for." A grant of £300 was sought and obtained frol TROCAIRE to fund a one-day workshop at Kiltyclogher COllunity Centre early in June. Bill Walsh was the first speaker and his co-op experiences in Tanzania were ilpressive. He was sent there in 1981 by the Irish Foundation for Cooperative Developlent to help ilplelent an albitiou? .schfle in Kilosa district, funded by the EEC, the Irish Sovernlent and IFCD itself. During allost two years in an area containing 23,000 inhabitants, the foundations of a self sustaining d~iry co-op were laid. (Clilatic and other factors militate against dairy farling in lost parts of rural Africa. African governlents recognize the value of laking fresh lilk available to .alnourished and unhealthy populations.) The alount of discussion at village level before the project began was ilportant. A village asse.bly of everybody aged over Ib years leet~ twice yearly to deliver a progress report to the Village Council this latter an elected body of 25 elders. Bill wasn't too specific about the actual operation of the asselbly: I was curious to know to what extent the deliberations were dOlinated by the old len. African village society is very patriarchal: wOlen and adolescent boys do what they are told and leave .ajor econolic decisions to the elders. Training and continuing education of the villagers i~ also vital. Bill Malsh was assisted by a Tanzanian counterpart who was expected to take over frol hil. New skills like silage laking were learned.on the spot by the villagers. "ore cOlplex skills were learned by selected individuals who .were sent to training colleges or dairy ranches. Bill taught several practical everyday farling skills inforlally to individuals and slall groups. There were nUlerous se.inars and study groups at village level on co-operative theory and practice. I got the ilpres5ion that the Kilosa dairy 5chele has a good future. Only tile will tell whether the other ailS of the project - developlent of intervillage fruit, vegetables and larketing activity will be achieved.

Alice Davis worked for a year as an accountant with a cattle co-operative in rural Nigeria. She told the inspiring story of an Irish nun who persuaded villagers in an area devestated by the Nigerian civil war to co.bine their efforts in reconstructing the agricultural econolY nf the people. I would have liked to know lore about the level of discussion and decision laking by the villagers in the enterprise. I also .wondered whether the enterprise would ever have got off the ground without the single linded efforts of the relarkable Irish sister. In Ireland as elsewhere sale ilpressive scheles are conceived by dynalic individuals. But proper co-operative ventures should encourage laxilUl group participation in the evolution of ideas and the day to day running of enterprises. Power sharing is sOletiles anathela to brilliant individuals. The co-op projects in Leitril and Donegal were on a slaller scale than the two African ones and were therefore lore to the point of the workshop the role of slall enterprises in the developlent of underdeveloped areas. Tony Sallagher's story of the Arranlore Island experience was to IY .ind the lOSt heartening. Rod Alston's accouQt of NLVSA tells us sale ho.e truths about the seeling irrelevance of official developlent agencies to slall scale innovative enterprise. But both Rod and Tony gave due credit to the practical interest shown by COlbat Poverty workers in their efforts. Finally Francis Walsh drew sOle salutary lessons fro. the co-op experience of Slencolulbkille. The grand synthesis I looked for did not laterialise at this workshop. But 27 individuals, lostly frol the North West and a few frol Wicklow and the lidlands, cale to the event and taught and learned. If any of the participants were inspired to continue with existing activities or to initiate .new enterprises then frol .y point of view the workshop will have been a success. Irish readers wanting copies of Bill Walsh's paper, send s.a.e. 4" x b· to Sarreth At NW Deved Project, Icas HOUSE, Finisklin Road, Sligo.

LETTERS • From Sarah Lewtas,

MUlligans

Farm, Dunlewey,

Gweedore,

Co. Donegal.

I've been thinking of writing this for so long, I thought I'd better. It concerns the article "low Cookery· in issue 33. I don't think anything has got up Iy nose quite so luch for a good while. I don't buy the Newsletter to hear peoples' loral stands on anything, aid I feel this article sets a dangerous precedent. . I bet quite a lot of your readers would disagree with parts of this article especially concerning abortion, and would, also feel that a ~elf-sl1fficiency eanual is not the place for a political bitching ground.

CO-OPERATIVE VEGETABLE PRODUCTION NORTH LEITRIM. Rod Alston. North leitril is a depressed area; it seels to a considerable extent to have been overlooked by those concerned with developlent; the land is lostly poor; sOle surveys have, lore or less, suggested that all it is good for is planting with Sitka Spruce; depopulation has continued, 50 that in the last census Co. leitril was the only county where population was still declining. It used to be described as the poorest part of the poorest county, in the poorest region, the poorest country in the EEC before recent admissions to the CO.lon Market), Significant aspects of it being a depressed area are extrelely poor services, and a generally hopeless attitude on the part of lost people in area with regard to likely local developments. Apart frol creameries and Development Associations, co-operatives have not been a feature of the history of the area. HI3TUR'{

We were particularly concerned to offer an opportunity for young路people to remain in the area with the prospect of laking a living. 2) To make available fresh, high quality produce for the North Leitrim consumer. 3) To bring about a 1I0repositive attitude to the potential of North Leitril land use. It was also our aim that the co-op would be cooperative in practice: that mellbers would fully participate in the management. One of our first lessons was that SOIllEone saying at a meeting that they intended putting in half an acre of cabbage did not mean that 2,000 would be ready for sale the following autumn. Over the first years of production the number of growers reduced, the production gradually increased (unhappily with the proportion of immigrant growers also increasing), and the turnover slowly rose each year. Initially we attempted to sell through er.isting outlets, but found this totally unsatisfactory. A street stall was then set up, with co-op members manning tne stall, and fruit not produced in the area being bought in fro; the wholesaler. We now trade the year round, and have recently rented shop remises in Manornamilton, For the duration of the Combat Poverty Programme, the coaeunity.workers continued to give sose organisational assistance, andsaal] financial assistance also was made available from Combat Poverty funds. We applied for management aid to the County Development Team, but found them rather elusive to deal with, and the grant aid even more elusive. Generally we met with considerable scepticism as to the likelihood of success for the co-op - vegetable co-ops in the West of Ireland have not been notably successful. For a while there was the hope that a number of sIal1 co-operative ventures might be forled in North Leitrim, linked together and sharing some costs. An Energy Co-op was forled, is still in existence, but operates completely separately from the NlVGA. There were also abortive attellpts at setting up a hale bakery and holiday hOlleco-op. The state of the vegetable co-op now is that there are seven or eight growers who derive all or a Ilajor part of their income frail the co-op's

In 1977 one or two people were growing vegetables on what was lIoreor less a ssall garden seale, .whi1 e over 90% of vegetables soldin the shops came frot other areas via Dublin Wholesale Market. It was obvious that it was possible to produce fruit and vegetables local!y, .that there should bean advantage for locally grown produce over i.ports to the area, and a couple of us bad had sale 路discu~sion of the possibility of cooperative growing. This coincided with the appearance of two cOlllmunityworkers funded by the Combat Poverty Programme, and they were largely responsible' for pushing the idea out into the open - organising a series of puhliteeettnqs. Response was generally enthusiastic, and a steering committee was forled to research the potential of a vegetable growers' co-operative. This involved discussions with lAOS regional office, County Development Teal Officer, contacting other co-operatives (and melbers of defunct co-ops) where it appeared that their experience would be relevant. A point I would like to return to later is that we received virtually no real assistance frol those bodies/organisations that might have been eKpected to have offered it. The two Combat Poverty cOllunity workers lIIadethemselves and their office available, but were as inexperienced as ourselves. The co-op was forlally launched at the end of 1977, initially with 33 lelbers, around 20 of whol had expressed the intention of growing the following year. Our ai.s were 1) To lake it possible for lembers to lake a living frol the production of fruit and vegetables, and to allow farlers significantly to increase their inco.e.

activities, and sale lore who produce on a very slall scale. The future looks pretty secure: active lelbers have gained horticultural experience and expertise and continue-to do so; local deland still greatly exceeds our present level of production; and, despite often having fairly basic disagreelents, we have gone sOle way in learning hOIl to co-operate together.Although active lelbers are spread over too large an area, cOllunication between lelbers is frequent due to involvelent in running the'shop; all active telbers attend meetings (roughly tonthly) and participate fully in the lanagelent of the CD-Op. FDrlal cD-operation is lainly concerned with planning crops and with marketingj infDr.al co-operation between letbers exists in a nUlber of different fDrls. \

co-ops and ACOT, and I think it is not being unduly harsh to say we were pretty well brushed -off by each. North leitril is a depressed areaj farls are mostly run in a non-viable lanner; elploYlent is, to say the least, scarce. Yet we failed to attract or keep local far.ers, their sons or daughter in the co-op. Mhy? Various theories have been produced: 1) that the style of land-use involved was too different frol the conventional single suckling/ranching stylej 2) that being lainly instigated by non-locals (including cOllunity workers) the co-op had frol the beginning an ilage of being itself non-localj 3) that the "dole .entality路 is sufficiently pervasive to dissuade lost; 4) that financial aid was not forthcolingj 5) the lack of appropriate technical advice/assistance; and b) the very slall part relevant vocational training plays in the existing education systel. I suspect that all these factors played sale part in our failure to involve lany non-illigrantsj and I suspect that they are, in varying degrees, all influential factors liliting success of allost any rural co-operative developlent project. Stress is generally laid on participation of lelbers in the lanagelent of any co-op. Me spent luch tile talking about this when we forled the vegetable co-op. In practice this has been achieved silply because the nUlber of active lelbers is slall - they are all substantially affected by coop decisions - and because, having no lanager, the tasks of lanagelent are shared between lelbers. Had we been successful in attracting aid keeping lore lelbers this light not have been the case. One of the recurring lessons in our experience has been that difficulties are a serious and ubiquitous accolpaniaent to a lelbership that does not have a real COllitlent for, and dependency on the co-op.

ABSESSMENT. At one level, NlVSA has been fairly successful. Our second ail, that Df laking available to the North leitri. consuler high quality, fresh local produce has certainly been letj indeed, I would ilagine that "anorhalilton has a better supply Df better quality vegetables than allost anywhere in Ireland. And, in a sense, the ail of providing the DppDrtunity for peDple to lake a living, or a significant part of their living frol vegetable grDwing has been let - we do. But there are very fell people WhD have taken up this oppDrtunity of using vegetable growing as a way of relaining in the area. I don't think we can clail to have had a very 'significant ilpact on people's general attitudes about what can be done with the land in North leitr'il, or Dn advancing thelselves through co-operation. Trying to quantify the achieve.ent tD date is difficult. I believe the availability of fresh vegetables is of significancet and is appreciated. The co-op is probably providing the equivalent of Jive or six full-tite jobs. All active lelbers have considerably advanced their horticultural skillsj and by working together we have done things that would not have been possible for any of us individually. EVALUATION. If a slall group of growers can co-operate to produce vegetables for the local fresh larket in North leitril and it be a viable proposition, it could be done successfully allost anywhere in rural Ireland - particularly if the would-be growers were to contact us and learn frOt our listakes! The role of organisations, developlent bodies, and cOllunity workers is of ilportance. The NlY6A light well have failed had it not been for the support (financial and lanpower) of the Cotbat Poverty funded cOllunity workers. But we would have beneH tted far lore frol percepti ve and pertinent advice than we wDuld have frol grants. Mhen starting Dut, we approached leDS, the CDT, other

NLVGA, co-op veget~ble and fruit shop,Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim .

GREEN

MANURES_

Dirk

In '92 two new books on green lanures were published 16 , " Probst:Praktische 6rundungung, and Ell Farl: Green "anures) which I both find - useful to reflect upon Iy own eKperience with green lanures 16") during the last two years. On the one hand the boots give quite a lot of detailed figures an~ tables, leaving the purely philosophical (soletiles religious) approach of lany continentals behind. On the other hand the writers !xaline each activity in terls of its effect on the whole systel, not just in ter.s of directly obserVible effects as increased yield frol G" as a fertilizer application. If you think 6" is a substitute for far.yard lanure ,and regard it isolated as a nitrogen application you lay be disappointed. BUT ••••••

F1a.k~_

2. Protection against erosion. There is already erosion and the danger of silting up when you have a slope of 2I~There is especially water erosion in spring and early sUller in potatoes, turnips, sugar beets and laize. "ulching is good to avoid erosion. But a living plant cover in the top soil is luch better. Their roots i.prove the water infiltration. They encourage the earthworl population; they stop minerals and trace elelents frol leaching into the subsoil as they get fixed into the 'growing 6". Crucifers are faster growing than legu.es and without risk of poor ger.ination. That's ilportant because the earlier you get the soil covered the better the protection against heavy rainfall between April and June. Only the living cover of plants guarantees that the raindrops seep allay illediately after they strike the ground.As far as lIater infiltration is concerned, phacelia are best, IIhichlIasproved in lany cases in South Brazii. Although I have no slopes on ay land, I'e convinced that I would have luvch higher iosses of minerals during the winter if I had not sOllnrye-grass and lustard. It's certainly true that crucifers are much easier to establish than legules. For example Iy vetch and the bitter lupins failed cOlpletely last year. Vetch did not gereinate at all, because they were sown too deep. The lupins failed after gerlination because there were no bacteria around lIith which they live in sYlbiotic relationship. ~eanwhile I got a package of dried bacteria but have not tried thel yet. But establishlent depends a lot on your location. Birds light like your lustard seed and I would not advise anyone to leave this seed on the open ground. Mustard ger.inates tuch better if you rake it in. Living only 200 yards away frol the Atlantic ! found out that the ~rowth ,of lustard, spinach la very cheap seed on the continent) and even faba beans (broad beans) are very poor when

1. Supplying the soil with orginic litter. The east obvious chiracteristic of i green linure is the provision of organic latter. A green linure "is supposed to produce an averige of "1.5 tonnes per hectare of dry latter {excluding rootsl. Ell Farl Research Centre say it's even 4-5 tonnes~ 6reen lanures ilprove the regulation of the soil's' loisture regile. The rooting activity, which benefits of aeration and better 50il structure, facilitates easier drainage of excess loisture, whereas in dry conditions, shiding by 6" restricts soil loisture evaporation. "ost of the 6" are deep rooting. After cutting thel the roots rot and becote an excellent subsoillanure and drainage-piping. G" breaks up difficult soluble soil-nutrients and dislocates thel frol the subsoi 1. There is one part in IY garden which has very light, sandy clay. Nice ind eisy to clein but causing severe problels during the dry periods in April and July '82. "ustard was certainly a help although even the lustard suffered a lot. This year I gave this patch an extra IOid of farl yard lanure

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they are sown before St. Patrick's Day or after Septelber 15th. (901 of this year's faba bean sprouts were picked by crows, but ca.e again for a second tile.)

4. Ilproved soil cultivation. Seeds in our days produce only very shallow growing roots.They are not able to unlock nutrients in cOlpacted so~ls or at depth. How different are legules and crucifers which have lainly deep rooting systels (taproots). How does 6" effect the living conditions for earthworls, the lost ilportant natural gift for breaking up the soi I? Best conditions for earth wor.s are·provided by clover covered soil, followed by crucifers and phacelia while grass cOles only list. Earthworls get killed by ultraviolet radiation, IIhereas a lulch of green ••nures provide feed for thel and protects thel frol UVR. Research results show that it is of disadvantage to plough in a SK which is ready for 'harvesting'. Vou will have a better subsequent lain crop when the 6M is only raked into the surface. It is ilportant that the 6" crop should not be allowed to becole too lature and woody, as this can considerably 51011 down deco.position. In such a case, the C:N ratio of the laterial becoles so wide that additional N is required. This lay cause a telporary nitrogen deficiency in the soil affecting the subsequent crop. I've never tried to sow any vegetable seed into a 6"-lulch and I reckon it's nearly i.possible to get such a bed clean enough. But there is certainly nO proble. to transplant any brassica, tOlatoes, cuculber seedlings into a harvested 6" bed. But Ihlt,ytr yOI chtGtt I. IR inter.ediate green .anure crop (Iustlrd, faba beans, spinach) you can't expect a sufficient height of 6" (S" at least) before May lOth, which is late for a very early brassica crop. This year I left a band of lustard and broad beans between 2 rows of early brassicas, which I planted in the first week of May. The lustard is a useful

3. Supplying the soil with·nutrients and trace elelents. Most ilportant for the supply of nutrients to our crops is the availability of nutrients in different fertilizers at the ti.e the crop needs the. .ost. Experilents with root crops show that a co.bination of far. yard lanure and an interlediate green eanure releases a .uch higher dose of M to the subsequent crop during the lain growing period than pure FVM or pure 6M does. 6M MAKES THE BEST USE OF FARM YARD "AMURE. Through its rooting activity .any ilportant plant nutrients and linerals are absorbed into the tissues of green lanure. Following incorporation into the soil and the subsequent deco'position, these nutrients beeole available to the next crop. One hectare of crucifers produces a .ini.uI of 1.5 tonnes dry latter which contains 45 kilos of organic fixed N. Legulinous crops fix hardly soluble linerals especially phosphate and trace ele.ents and different to the erueifers and grasses - they do fix nitrogen frol the atlosphere through the sy.biotic relationship of their root nodules with rhizobia bacteria. The dry latter of 4 tonnes/per hectare faba beans contains 10fe than 150 kilos N, 4S kilos phosphate,lS0 kilos potash, 96 kilos CaO and IS kilos "gO. Manuring faba beans would not i.prove their capacities of fixing nutrients fro. soil and air. By the way, 100 kilos n/ha are sufficient to produce 5 tonnes !ha rye or 4.5 tonnes /hectare wh.eat.

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winter. There was no other May of cleaning the land for the following crop than by plouQhinQ. HarrowinQ and rotovating (5hp rotivatorJ failed. But it's' true that there is never a necessity of digging or ploughing in autuln, when you are sowing your G" after harvesting the lain crop. You'll always have a deep, loosened living soil in the next spring.

wind shelter for the brassica seedlings as well as for the broad beans, which hopefully fix some nitrogen before 1 cut them in June to make space , for a row of broccol i. 5. Green lanures and weeds and pests. In general 6" are fast growers. Faster than weeds. And so 6" are reducing the opportunities weeds have for establishing themselves. Crucifers and grasses are in the beginning faster than clovers and trefoil. Crucifers consist of substances which block the growth of crucifer-weeds. There is a very remarkable relation between cultured grasses and weed grasses, especially scutch (quick grass, Agropyron repensJ. COlparing the yields of different grasses when sown together with scutch grass, the.• annual 'Weidel-grass Billion' is not effected at all by the cOlpetition of scutch and 'Billion' blOCKS it to a very high extent. Pity that 1 didn't know it 2 years earlier. Could have had a nice tile watching Billion cOlbQtting scutch. Instead of that I found it extrelely labour intensive to keep the weed under control at a tile when the soil was full of these nice weeds, like duck leaves and scutch grass and Iy mustard in between. So you can only use the advantage of the weed suppressing effect of 6M when the ~round is already cultivated. Crucifers encourage nematodes when sown before spinach or beetroot.

Ell Farls booklet 'Green "anures' is a lust for everyone who is seriously interested in using G". I think it costs only Eng.£1.S0, Ell Fara Research Centre, Halstead Marshall, Nr. Newbury, Berkshire RG1S OHR, Great Britain. The booklet gives good basic inforaation as well as tables about the characteristics of various 6": + ease of establishment and growing + speed of growth + depth of rooting + root productionigreen laterial production + N-fixation + resistance to drought + ease of utilisation. There are tables about seeding rates, sowing tile, sowing depths, production of N P K CA "g/per acre, residues of N P K after harvest, undersowing in tunnels. Unfortunately there doesn't exist an Irish seed merchant who is dealing.with GM. I'll write to Wyartt Seeds,Stone Cottage, Beyton, Bury St. Edlunds, Suffolk, for actual prices of various 6" to be published in the next Newsletter. I suggest to order in bulk through my address: Dirk Flake, Aughinish, Kinvara, Co. Galway.

6. Green lanures and yields of the subsequent lain crop. There has been only very little research on the yield effects of G" to the subsequent crop. There are only a few reliable results: legules are increasing the yields of wheat luch lore than crucifers do. While less N-depending crops like SUller barley respond luch lor-e positively to crucifers. 7. 6" and costs. Nhen you are purely looking at M-fixation you can hardly win with crucifers when you think of the costs for seed and extra labour for sowing.Vou spend twice as luch for seed and labour as what you gain as N-fertilizer. (labour costs based on 6erlan wages. J COlparing the costs of 6" and the value of fertilizer they produce, you gain £30/hectare with an undersowing of legules. The value of an intermediate crop of faba beans covers the costs. (Figures based on prices for artificial fertilizers~ J 6" avoids to a certain extent ploughing, so you save diesel and labour costs. I can't confirl the last point f·ora patch of land which was covered with·rye-grass during the last

THE LAWS OF CREATION 'We are standing at the threshold of a new epoch in the spiritual development of man', The new insightsalone of technology and the findings of parapsychology (PSI), with all the consequences arising from them, compel us to change our view of the Universe and of human life, and to lift our gaze beyond narrowly-drawn concepts. 'Questions as to the meaning of life, questions regarding the whence and the whither ,questions concerning the active Laws of Crea tion, are.today more urgent then ever before! 'Leading scientists are agreed that behind the world of phenomena known to us there are vast forces at work which make Creation appear to man in new, undreamed-of dimensions. All this compels us to review our conception of the Universe to correspond with the changed realities, the new recognitions and manifold observations,' (From the booklet: How is it that we Live after Death available free from: The Grail Movement of Ireland, 20 Leeson Park Avenue, Dublin 6,

SMALLHOLDING with farmhouse,in sound basic condition,ESB and water,unmodernised on two and a half acres of wooded and arable land.For quick sale at £8,500. P.Kilroy,Togher,Dunmanway,Co.Cork. FOR SALE!'72 VW van,lefthand drive.Yellow(post),tow hinge. Contact:Reiner Marcinkowski,Derrycon-West,Shannon,Co.Clare. I

DRYAD four shaft table loom (20 inches) for some yarn.Elaine O'Connor.Phone Boyle 579.

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SMALLHOLDING. 4 bed bungalow on 1 acre. Kitchendiner, sitting room, bathroom. Mod cons. Buildings suitable goats-pigs. Garden, fruit trees. Reasonable. 7 miles Waterford. Molly Hall,Moonveen,Carrigeen,Waterford. Tel. 051 95194

WANTED: Small polythene tunnel (or frame) ;electric fencing unit;yard/pillar/council/roadside water pump for shallow well. Keating,Cloonduff,Rosenallis,Co.Laois. Phone 0502/28646

YOU FANCY a working weekend on an organic farm? Opportunities exist on about 35 farms in Ireland to learn about organic gardening and farming in your spare time. In exchange for work members receive free accomodation and food. Membership costs £2 and a stamped addressed envelope. Contact WWOOF-Gilly,Carrigleigh,Shanballymore,Mallow, Co:Cork. DO

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