Tillage & CultivationUnit 1.2 | Part 1 – 73weeks in summer and seven weeks in winter before
turning them to the other side of the house. The
compost was then applied to dryland cereal crops in
spring. A study conducted in the early 20th century
found that nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
were replenished by this composting system nearly
at the level lost through harvest.^2
Intercropping
Intercropping, another feature of French Intensive
gardening,^3 is a system of growing multiple crops
together in the same bed or field. Intercropping is a
common feature of indigenous agriculture around
the world, including the famous “three sisters”
planting of corn, beans, and squash originating from
Mesoamerica. Extending the growing season while
maximizing land use was, and still is, essential for
subsistence communities to maintain their food and
economic security. In the Shantung Province in Chi-
na, cotton is broadcast into nearly-mature stands of
wheat, adding almost a month to the cotton grow-
ing season. Maize and pigeon pea intercropping is
common in East Africa, a practice that fixes nitrogen
while providing farmers with both food and fiber
crops necessary for subsistence.
These are just a few examples of the locally-
adapted, sustainable techniques based on the same
philosophies that influenced the French-intensive
method. In developing countries, especially, global
development threatens the survival of this land-
based knowledge as industrial agriculture en-
croaches on smallholder farms. Our responsibility,
then, is to protect and preserve this knowledge for
future generations. As Liberty Hyde Bailey, one of
America’s foremost horticulturists, said, speaking of
indigenous practices in East Asia, “We may never
adopt particular methods, but we can profit vastly
by their experience.”
2 King, F. H. 2004. Chapter IX. Utilization of Waste in Farmers of
Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea and Japan.
Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. (Note: originally
published in 1911 as Farmers of Forty Centuries, Or Permanent
Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan, reprinted by Rodale Press
in 1973.)
3 Martin, O. 2007. French-Intensive Gardening: A Retrospective.
For the Gardner series. Center for Agroecology & Sustainable
Food Systems. Available online at: casfs.ucsc.edu/about/
publications/for_the_gardener.html
Supplement 2: Origins of the French-Intensive Method