[Terrapreta] Biomass sources

[MMBTUPR at aol.com]

          from          Lewis L Smith

My agricultural experience is with alfalfa, cane and elephant grass, but I 
sense the following from our discussions of terra preta.

In the abandoned fields found under the Amazonia vegetation, there is 
obviously a mix of materials of which a form of char is the most important. And 
obviously it is a mix, not just the char alone, that made for the agricultural 
success of what we may call the "terra preta system" of cultivation. 

What we still do not know is which of the other materials were deliberately 
put there to make the system work and which represent accidental trash of the 
former inhabitants, especially when they were all dying off from small pox or 
whatever. A good example are the chards from large ceramic pots.

In brief, terra preta seems to work because of a "recipe", but we still do 
not know the recipe.

Cordially.   ###


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