Mastering the Earth
"| HAT the contrast should have been between a tractor and "the man with the hoe" rather than the "man with the shovel" or "spade" surprised me very much in the only 3YC talk on Man and the Soil that I have been able to listen to. Literally, then, the tool whose potentialities for controlling a large area I have only just discovered has been the one most used down the ages? Professor Blackman made an interesting reference to the reclamation of "dust bowls," confirming an earlier article attacking Road to Survival. My knowledge of Inca, Mayan and Aztec Civilisations is. very sketchy, hevertheless, I was surprised that when the Professor dealt with the Inca practice of burning wood on the land for manure he did not cite the theory advanced to account for the rapid decline of one of these civil-_ isations; namely, that it burnt its way. around America and declined suddenly when it had thus exhausted the accessible arable land. At the very end of his’ talk, and dealing with the possibilities of opening up land with the tractor, Professor Blackman said it was a
question of "how far you can go in pushing nature in the face," a phrase that is extremely unfitting, and which we can only hope does not really lie. behind our modern attempt to master
the earth,
Westcliff
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530612.2.23.1.5
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 726, 12 June 1953, Page 11
Word count
Tapeke kupu
228Mastering the Earth New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 726, 12 June 1953, Page 11
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in