Great Construction

Home Gardening and Non-Fertilizer Cultivation

     Cultivation without fertilizers, the method of agriculture we advocate, is also good news for those who have vegetable gardens at home, and I would like to discuss this kind of agriculture here. Vegetable gardens generally do not involve production of the cereals, such as rice and wheat, and most gardens are used for cultivating vegetables. Human excrement as well as garbage, fish scraps, wood ash, and the manure of horses and chickens, are applied, but the most commonly used fertilizer in Japanese home gardens is human excrement.
     In these cases, however, those who fertilize with human excrement are not experienced farmers, but typical householders not accustomed to handling such material, so the experience can be quite distressing. Applying it is disagreeable, and the smell lingers for quite a long time, filling the rooms of the house, extinguishing even enjoyment of dinner time, the unpleasantness being more than the average person can bear. Since human excrement is supposed to be effective, people have no course but to use it, but I would like to discuss several examples that aptly show how the use of human excrement for agriculture is harmful.
     Inexperienced cultivators often complain about tomatoes and varieties of bean plants whose flowers drop prematurely and about low yields. They also complain of low output or of no output at all with potatoes, of leaf blight and of broken stalks. Insect damage is also cause for much concern, but the cause of all these problems stems from the use of human excrement, and this fact has remained unknown until now. Low productivity, as well, was thought to result from the insufficient use of fertilizers, so even more fertilizers were applied, which led to reverse effects. The poor quality of plants has conspicuously continued to worsen until now. This vicious cycle was inevitable because agricultural specialists taught that artificial fertilizers were effective, and this unsatisfactory situation occurred because the specialists themselves had fallen for the superstitious belief in the efficacy of fertilizers. Specialists attributed poor results to errors in usage of types, amount, and the timing of fertilizer use or to the acidity of the soil. All these explanations are quite off the mark and only muddle the basic principles of agriculture. The fallacy is so astonishing!
     One of the most beneficial aspects of Non-Fertilizer Cultivation is that neither human excrement nor any other kind of fertilizer is necessary. We are only concerned that the compost be satisfactory, and the results are wonderful. Here is just a short list of advantages.
1.    Unpleasant fertilizers, including human excrement, are not needed.
2.    Therefore, there are no diseases caused by parasitic insects, and produce is clean.
3.    No premature loss of flowers or breakage of stems, and plants are easy to cultivate because they are strong.
4.    It is economical because there is no expense or need for disinfecting measures since there is no damage from insects.
5.    Because the amount of produce increases, a smaller area for cultivation suffices.
6.    The delicious taste of non-fertilized vegetables is extraordinary, and they are naturally high in nutritive value.
     I could go on, but more to the point, only those who have experienced using Non-Fertilizer Cultivation can know from the results of the method how much more pleasant life becomes. The sooner Non-Fertilizer Cultivation is implemented, the better. When starting Non-Fertilizer Cultivation, however, one point that must be kept in mind is that because seeds and the soil have been permeated with toxins, it will take some period of time for the agricultural toxins to be eliminated, and conspicuously good results will not be seen for that period. Depending on the type of vegetable, however, some varieties will show good results from the first year, and others will take two or three years. It is when all the agricultural toxins have been eliminated from the soil and seeds that marvelous results will be obtained.

 Chijōtengoku, Issue 13, page 3, February 20, 1950
translated by cynndd

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Non-Fertilizer Cultivation is an earlier name for Nature Farming. The essay “Katei Sai’en to Muhi Saibai” which first appeared in Kyûsei, Issue 63, on May 20, 1950, was anthologized in the 1982 volume, Shinji no Kenkô. The 1987 volume True Health is a translation of Shinji no Kenkô, but this essay did not appear in the English version. In most other respects, True Health follows the Shinji no Kenkô order. For those who wish to compare the two editions, the translation for the essay “Katei Sai’en to Muhi Saibai” should appear after the essay “The Great Agricultural Revolution—Clean and Enjoyable Home Gardens” and before the essay “The Earth Breathes.”