Re: quote from Justus von Liebig

["Sal" <sals@rain.org>]

Thank you for sharing that .  Mr. Petric told me of this years ago but I
never heard the whole quote.  What a Revelation.  you are great ! thank you
for that piece of the puzzle.And now we know "the rest of the story".

check out a organic growers web page
http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bargyla Rateaver" <brateaver@earthlink.net>
To: "Joel Brooks Gruver" <jgruv@wam.umd.edu>
Cc: <sanet-mg@shasta.ces.ncsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 1999 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: quote from Justus von Liebig


> I am pleased to see yet another quote from that man, Liebig.
>
>    All these years I have fought the lies about ion absorption.  At the
> university, Liebig is always cited as authority for all those lies. No one
> ever admitted, no one ever told me, that at the end of his life, Liebig
> recanted completely. He was sorry he had ever promoted that nonsensical,
> ion-chemical fertilizer responsible fable--the worldwide spread falsehoods
> that underlie all the world's data of NPK..
>
> In my Organic Method Primer BASICS (a reduced version of my Primer
UPDATE), I
> copied the famous quote of Liebig, spoken before his death,  that I had
looked
> for in vain, for a long time.
>     I copied it (with permission, of course) from the superduper,
> prize-winning book by Wm Jackson:
>     "Humic, Fulvic and Microbial Balance: Organic Soil Conditioning."  I
don't
> know how Dr. Jackson found it, since I had never been able to find it.
>
>   So here is the famous admission from Liebig--- that he had spent his
> professional life with a lying basis---- that has been the false
foundation of
> practically all the university type researches (catering to the chemical
> companies) that so fondly embrace the.lies about ion absorption by plant
> roots:
>
>    And please note, that he finally admitted it was the Creator (JHVH),
who
> knew what He was doing.
>
>   "I had sinned against the wisdom of our creator, and received just
> punishment for it.  I wanted to improve his handiwork, and in my
blindness, I
> believed that in this wonderful chain of laws, which ties life to the
surface
> of the earth and always keeps it rejuvenated, there might be a link
missing
> that had to be replaced by me--this weak, powerless nothing.
>     "The law, to which my reearch on the topsoil led me, states, 'On the
outer
> crust of the earth, under the influence of the sun, organic life shall
> develop'. and so, the great master and builder gave the fragments of the
earth
> the ability to attract and hold all these elements necessary to feed
plants
> and further serve animals, like a magnet attracts and holds iron
particles, so
> as no piece be lost. Our master enclosed a second law unto this one,
through
> which the plant bearing earth becomes an enormous cleansing apparatus for
the
> water. Through this particular ability, the earth removes from the water
all
> substances harmful to humans and animals--all products of decay and
> putrefaction, of perished plant and animal generations.
>     "What might justify my actions is the circumstance, that a man is the
> product of his time, and he is only able to escape the commonly accepted
views
> if a violent pressure urges him to muster all his strength to struggle
free of
> these chains of error. The opinion, that plants draw their food from a
> solution that is formed in the soil through rainwater, was everyone's
belief.
> It was engraved into my mind. This opinion was wrong and the source of my
> foolish behavior.
>     "When a chemist makes a mistake in ratig agricultural fertilizers,
don't
> be too critical of his errors, because he has had to base his conclusions
upon
> facts which he can't know from his own experience, but rather, has to take
> from agricultural texts as true and reliable. After I learned the reason
why
> my fertilizers weren't effective in the proper way, I was like a person
that
> received a new life. For along with that, all processes of tillage were
now
> explained as to their natural laws. Now that this principle is known and
clear
> to all eyes, the only thing thata remains is the astonishment of why it
hadn't
> been discovered a long time ago. The human spirit, however, is a strange
> thing. Whatever doesn't fit inot the given circle of thinking, doesn't
exist."
>
> ====================================================
> ====================================================
> Joel Brooks Gruver wrote:
>
> > Hello to all...
> >
> > While perusing a book titled
> > Fauna in soil ecosystems: recycling processes, nutrient fluxes and
> > agricultural production (edited by Gero Benckiser, Marcel Dekker, 1997,
> > ISBN 0-8247-9786-8) I encountered a very interesting quote attributed to
> > an individual somewhat infamous in sustainable ag circles. In 1855,
Justus
> > Von Liebig wrote:
> >
> > "Unfortunately the true beauty of agriculture with its intellectual and
> > animating principles is almost unrecognized. The art of agriculture will
> > be lost when ignorant, unscientific and short sighted teachers persuade
> > the farmer to put all his hopes in universal remedies, which don't exist
> > in nature. Following their advice, bedazzled by an ephemeral success,
the
> > farmer will forget the soil and lose sight of his inheent values and
their
> > influence."
> >
> > The original source of this quote is Liebig von, J. (1855)
> > Die Grundsatze der Agriculturchemie mit Rucksicht auf die in England
> > angestellten Untersuchungen. Braunschweig.
> >
> > Those are some interesting words to ponder in this age of biotech
promises
> > of "universal remedies"...
> >
> > Joel Gruver
> > Center for Agriculture, Food and Environment
> > Tufts University
> >
> > P.S. I have the original German if anyone is interested.
> >
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