Famine well

Hunger well in Heldenfingen in April 2008

Kirschensoog in July 2010

Types of valleys in the karst: dry, permanent and intermittent springs

A famine well or source of hunger is usually an episodic karst spring that pouring out only after particularly large amounts of precipitation .

history

In many of the descriptions of the upper offices of Württemberg published between 1824 and 1886, the hunger well is an obligatory bullet point that is also listed if no periodic sources are known in a higher office . A warning sign was seen in the irregular pouring of these springs ; it was believed that they heralded famine, abuses, rising prices or the danger of war. The old adage: "No farmer spoils in a dry year, but in a wet one" , expresses the same relationships observed over centuries.

Examples

• Hunger well near Gerstetten in Baden-Württemberg
• Hunger well near Oberkochen
• Leerausquelle in Königsbronn
• Kirschensoog near Wallmoden in Lower Saxony
• Schenne in Dannheim (Thuringia)
• Spittelbrunnen near Mühlhausen in Thuringia
• Bullfetter near Ebensfeld in Bavaria
• Source of hunger near Walzbachtal-Wössingen in Baden-Württemberg

See also

• Roarers
• Porpoise
• Quickspring

Web links

Commons : Karst springs  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Temperatur- u. Precipitation  data Baden-Württemberg - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Hunger Well  - Sources and Full Texts

Wiktionary: Hunger wells  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Binder 1960, pp. 258f.