19.1 The Golden Plough

While in Bulgaria to construct a log-flume in the 1930s, Viktor Schauberger was also asked by King Boris to investigate why soil productivity and soil moisture, particularly in the northern parts of the country, had begun to decline since the introduction of modern mechanised farming methods.

Touring the country to examine the problem in more detail, he found that in the north the fields were ploughed with tractor drawn steel ploughs, whereas in the poorer south, populated largely by communities of Turkish origin, the fields were still tilled with wooden ploughs pulled in the main by teams of women. Here, however, in stark contrast with the north, the fields were still extremely fertile and produced abundantly healthy crops. From his study of water as a carrier of nutrients and aware of the generally detrimental effect of steel or iron on the quality of water, Viktor attributed the northern drop in soil fertility to the use of faster moving steel ploughs.

sing this as the starting point, Viktor began his postwar agricultural research in collaboration with Franz Rosenberger, an engineer, and began a series of experiments designed to increase soil fertility. But before going further, as with temperature, here we have to differentiate between two types of electromagnetism.
 
Type A: Comprises bio-magnetism and bio-electricity, the former more commonly referred to as diamagnetism. It is the form of electro-magnetism that energises and animates all living organisms. Diamagnetic elements are copper, bismuth and hydrogen.
 
Type B: Comprises ferro-magnetism, usually just called magnetism, and electricity, which here we shall refer to as ferro-electricity to give both terms a common root. This type of electro-magnetism is the one commonly in use in our technical world in electric motors and dynamos for the generation of electricity. Ferro-magnetic elements are iron, cobalt and nickel.
 
In Viktor's view the use of steel ploughs had many detrimental effects on the soil. As the steel ploughshares are drawn rapidly through the soil, minute ferro-electric and ferro-magnetic currents are generated in the interaction of hard steel against soil which decompose the nutrient-laden water molecules in the ground in a manner analogous to electrolysis, thereby discharging the soil's potential and reducing the surface-tension of the water molecule. This not only destroys the soil's subtler energies, but converts the nutritive elements or removes them from the mature water molecule. This was demonstrated in the discussion of the true facts of electrolysis in chapter 8, in which the end product of the process is pure juvenile water, which, as we have seen, is of little benefit to any organism.

In addition, small particles of steel are abraded from the shear-surfaces of the ploughshare, covering the ground with a thin film of rust. As we saw mentioned in the chapter on water supply with steel pipes, this provides an ideal breeding ground for the propagation of pathogenic bacteria, harmful to both soil and crops. This extra deposition of iron also increases the overall iron content of the ground and it is a known fact that soils high in iron are less water-retentive than soils where iron is not present, whereas soils high in copper have the capacity to retain greater quantities of water.
 
Furthermore, as they move, the plough-shares produce considerable warming friction and soil-crushing pressure-waves in the ground, due to the relatively steep angle of the share. This destroys the delicate soil capillaries responsible for the delivery of nutrients and water to the surface as well as some of the micro-organisms that process them, thereby cutting off the normal supply from below and, in consequence, soil fertility drops markedly.

The application of fertiliser, natural and artificial, and other factors for the moment apart, the overall action of iron or steel ploughs is therefore extremely destructive of the natural balance of energies and potencies, to say nothing of soil moisture, and is yet another serious aberration in humanity's treatment of Nature, for as Viktor laments: Wherever we look, the dreadful disintegration of the bridges of life, the capillaries and the bodies they have created, is evident, which has been caused by the mechanical and mindless work of Man, who has torn away the soul from the Earth's blood - water. 2

To counter this insidious effect, which was having disastrous consequences for production of high quality food as well as productivity in general, Viktor started to experiment with copper, initially making use of a standard steel ploughshare overlaid with a sheet of thick copper as shown in figs.19.1 & 19.2 for which patents were later applied and which came to be known as the 'Golden Plough' because of the remarkable results it achieved. The use of copper replaced the destructive ferro-electromagnetic effects with beneficial bio-lectromagnetic ones which through processes of bio-electromagnetic ionisation enhanced growth and soil fertility.
 
This boost to soil fertility was decisively confirmed in field trials carried out in the vicinity of Salzburg in 1948 and 1949. Here fields were ploughed in strips, using steel and copper-plated ploughs alternately. The difference between the two types of plough and their effect became quite apparent. Where the copper-plated plough had been used, i.e. where there were no rust residues and where the water content and other energies of the soil had been increased, the corn stood about 6-8 inches higher with a much fuller head.
 
Some yields in the strips ploughed with copper-plated implements increased by up to 40% in comparison with the control strips where conventional steel ploughs were used. This remarkable increase could only be attributed to the use of copper in lieu of steel, because all other factors of soil chemistry, orientation, furrow width, etc., were identical.

In  one  experiment,  extraordinarily large ears of rye were grown carrying up to 104 grains each; a truly stupendous production, as is shown in fig. 19.3. In another parallel experiment at Kitzbuhel in the Tyrol high quality, well-formed potatoes were produced weighing up to 430 grams, nearly half a kilo, containing as many as 20 'eyes', those portions of the potato that can be cut off and planted separately from which to grow the next crop (fig. 19.4). With such potatoes more food would be made available, not only on account of their larger size, but also because of the greater number of 'eyes', and fewer potatoes would be required for replanting.

Further research work was carried out which, in 1948, resulted in the development of the 'Bio-Plough' shown in figs.19.5 & 19.6; the model in fig. 19.5 was produced by a Hamburg engineer, Jurgen Sauck. The form and function of this plough is completely different to that in fig. 19.1. To reduce the damage to the soil capillaries to a minimum, instead of the pressure-wave forming and shearing crush-cut of the onventional ploughshare, here the blade is designed so as to create a long slicing cut before the soil is involuted through the centripetal action of the curving swan-like wings of the ploughshare itself, emulating the burrowing action of the mole.
 
Furthermore, instead of presenting a steeply inclined barrier to the soil, this plough presented sharp cutting edges only, the soil gliding hrough between the curved foils and gently rotated left and right, or right and left as the case may be, in the figure-of-eight movement indicated by the arrowed, broken lines in fig. 19.6. The ploughshare itself is made of phosphor-bronze which is nearly as hard as steel and therefore almost as durable. In any event, the vastly increasing productivity arising from its use would well outweigh the costs of its eventual replacement. As a result of these experiments it was clearly established that the soil should never under any circumstances, be worked with naked iron or steel, but only with implements made of wood, copper or copper alloys.
 
Despite the obvious and proven benefits to the nation that would accrue from the use of this plough, it never went into production for, owing to the success of his Salzburg field trials, Viktor Schauberger once again came up against the corruption of politicians and the concerted opposition of entrenched interests. During the period immediately after the war copper was was a scarce commodity in Austria and, having been unsuccessful in obtaining further supplies through normal channels, Viktor approached the Ministry of Agriculture.

There he was told by the Minister that more copper sheet would only be made available to him if he compensated the Minister financially for the losses he would suffer if he supported Viktor, because at that time the Minister was receiving large bribes from various manufacturers of artificial fertiliser to promote the use of their products.

True to his upright nature, Viktor categorically refused, saying that he did not traffic with criminals. As a result all copper, particularly in sheet form, was denied to him and this whole area of research and development, potentially so beneficial to agriculture everywhere, came to an abrupt end.

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