Book review

Mother Earth Manual of Organic Gardening edited by John Bond
published by A.H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington 1977, 141 pages, $4.95

Reviewed by IAN HAMILTON

I suppose, more than ever before, people are becoming used to living in the world of the juxtaposition of the opposed . . . doctors trying to save life in a world full of death-dealing appliances; inventors of humane social systems next door to the perpetration of new barbarisms; architects and sculptors putting well-made designs into hideous scenes; above all, scientists concerned with improvement of the human lot, devising complex systems that lead to enormous ecological damage and the ultimate death of their own civilisation.

All old hat, some would say, but even they are troubled by the effect of living among these surreal paradoxes. The chief result is what George Steiner calls morally and psychologically a terrible thing - to become unastonished. The concomitant, in the Western World at least, is apathy followed by the distractions, sport, TV, alcohol, drugs of all sorts, sensationalism, war: anything in fact that turns you on, which, in reality, means turns you off.

Fortunately, there is a growing number of individuals and organisations that are prepared, not only to jump off the ecological train and try to find out what went wrong but to set about building a new set of points. Though people may be sick of ego-trip politicians shouting about the new interest in the environment, there is a reason for their posturings. Somebody is setting off a few sticks of dynamite under their tails.

And it's these somebodies we're concerned with. The modern interest in organic treatment of the soil goes back at least to Sir Albert Howard and his great book, An Agricultural Testament. Many books have been published since but the principles remain valid and are incorporated in this book published by Reeds.

Edited by John Bond with the help of four others, it is the work of eighty qualified researchers backed up by over eight hundred amateur gardeners in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and North America.

Very well produced by Reeds (19 by 24 cm. with limp cover), it is divided into nine chapters with three appendices and illustrations drawn by Pat Govier. It is very comprehensive, yet easy to read and the extensive index allows the reader to refer to almost any aspect of the organic scene from composting and mulching to plant and human health, pest control, use of wastes, recycling and nutritious foods.

Though the book was written in the main for conditions in Britain, there is a seasonal conversion table for the southern hemisphere. But New Zealand readers will have to do their own research for other environmental considerations, location of New Zealand organic soil bodies, waste products etc. No criticism of the book, this points to the need for a New Zealand book dealing with conditions here.

This book is a necessity for the interested at a very reasonable price. The only people unlikely to profit from a reading are the big commercial pest control firms and those who are confirmed beyond redemption in the view, 'If something annoys you, kill it'.