The Living Soil

The Living Soil (1943) by Lady Eve Balfour is considered a seminal classic in organic agriculture and the organic movement. The book is based on Balfour's agricultural and medical research, and the initial findings of the first three years of the Haughley Experiment, the first scientific, side-by-side farm trial to compare organic and chemical-based farming.

The Living Soil was also published as The Living Soil and the Haughley Experiment.

Currently out of print, the full text is available online in the Agriculture Library at http://www.soilandhealth.org.

Table of Contents

The Living Soil - evidence of the importance to human health of soil vitality, with special reference to national planning

INTRODUCTION

I. PRELIMINARY SURVEY

Soil erosion. Nature of soil. Law of Return. The case outlined.

II. MEDICAL EVIDENCE

The Medical Testament. Decline in health. McCarrison Experiments. Orr's Experiment. Primary cause of disease. Papworth. McMillan Nursery School. Mount Pleasant.

III. HUMUS

Deterioration in food. Deterioration in animal health. Deterioration in plant food. Liebig Theory. Decline infertility. The Law of Return. Definition of Humus. Humus Manufacture. Indore process. Sheet composting. Compost v. muck. Howard's Experiments.

IV. DIRECT EVIDENCE

Mycorrhizal Association. Soil Ecology. In search of a starting point. Rayner Experiments. The complexity of compost action. Compost v. equivalent salts. Mycorrhizal responses. Inoculation experiments. Conclusions. Lawson's Cypress.

V. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

Facts proved at Wareham. Wider application. A. new light. Mycorrhizal Association in crop plants. A report on cotton. Function of Mycorrhiza. Neilson-Jones investigation. Toxicity in soil. Soil aeration. The fungus in cultivated soils. Cellulose decomposition. Indirect effect of compost action. Fungus nutrition. Soil fertility and the fungus.

VI. INDICATIONS

I. PLANTS Plant diseases. Results of compost treatment. Parasitic larvae. Predacious fungi. Soil ecology. Earthworms. Insect parasites.

II. ANIMALS:Animal feeding experiments. Vitamin B. Dr. Rowland. Soil-less culture. Sir John Russell. Satisfying quality of humus-grown food. Foot-and-mouth. Rabbits. Scour in pigs. Baker and Martin. Animal preference. Palatability. 'Fertility' bread. 'Quality'.

III. MAN Human feeding experiments. Africa. England. New Zealand. Singapore. Personal experience. Results in Cheshire.

VII. WHOLE DIETS

Health. Wholeness, Fragmentation. Hunza. Value of skin. Hunza diet. Hunza farming. Hunza to-day. Faroe Islanders. Icelanders. An experiment in Denmark. Polar Eskimos. Tristan da Cunha. North American Indian. Rural China. The common factor.

VIII. THE HAUGHLEY RESEARCH TRUST AND THE SOIL ASSOCIATION

Need for proof. Pioneering and the individual. Alice Debenham. Need for a clear-cut issue. The Problem. The programme. The Haughley Research Trust. The Soil Association

IX. FACING THE IMPLICATIONS

Revolution in outlook. Practical first steps. Repercussions of soil erosion. Switching labour. Humus mines. Utilization of town wastes. Cost of farm composting. Machinery as labour. Necessity for mixed farming. Rural housing. The Pollitt Plan. Fertility stored in vegetation. The value of weeds. Agriculture a service. Interests of town and country do not conflict. Education. Need for control. Public v. private ownership.

X. POSTSCRIPT

TECHNICAL REFERENCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GLOSSARY