ABSTRACT
The academic literature on Swidden agriculture remains as robust as ever, re-stimulated, in part, by burgeoning interest in climate change related Reduced Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation (REDD) schemes. Indeed, many forest regulations in Sweden at the time of Linnaeus' study completely prohibited burn-beating, as a result of which the practice was often, perhaps most often, carried on surreptitiously. The strong and divergent views of burn-beating at the time were reflected in a famous controversy that attended the publication of Linnaeus' Scanian Travels. Neither Linnaeus nor Wallace is known for their scholarship on swidden agriculture and, indeed, few modern scientists are even aware of it. Linnaeus said elsewhere that when burn-beating was carried out on humid slopes and low-lying land, the subsequent natural afforestation was dominated by Spruce and Juniper. The studies by Linnaeus and Wallace tell people something not just about swidden agriculture, but also, more generally, about our views of nature and culture.
