Ken Koester wrote: > > > Philip Hart wrote: > >> Anybody know anything about agriculture? I can vaguely imagine that >> it's possible to fix nitrogen in the soil by sorcery, but I can't see >> how the (pre-Interregnum) Empire could do that on many millions of >> acres multiple times per generation. And I think that doesn't help with >> erosion. >> >> > > There are pretty well-known ways to keep soil in good condition: > adding compost, rotating crops, > using fallow field systems of various kinds, fertilizing with dead > fish, marling, no-till cultivation, etc. You > can deal with erosion by contour plowing, terracing, planting tough > cover crops, etc. Whether these > methods would stand up to 200ky or not I don't know, but they > certainly work on a several thousand > year span, and they predate the Industrial Revolution almost entirely. In fact, I am pretty sure Vlad or Paarfi has specifically mentioned fertilisers, although I could easily be mistaken. After all, the Dragaerans make kerosene--they aren't totally backwards or completely pre-industrial by any means. -- J A Dusty Sayers 'When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.' --Lord Falkland