Moorland culture
The Moordammkultur , also called Rimpau'sche Moordammkultur or Sanddeckkultur , was a form of amelioration in wet and boggy soils that emerged in the 19th century. The farmer and manor owner Theodor Hermann Rimpau (1822–1888) is considered to be the founder .
history
A native of a Braunschweig Landwirts- and merchant family Rimpau came in 1847 in the possession of the 6413 acre large manor Kunrau in the Western Altmark . In this region there is the fen area Drömling , the first time from 1770 to 1796 at the instigation of the Prussian King Friedrich II. Dehydrated was. 1900 acres of land in the Drömling belonged to Rimpaus Gut. Farming in the area was a gamble and Rimpau's attempts at a new ditch system failed. In 1862 he started the first dam culture. Drömlings farmers had already had some experience with this processing method. Rimpau was able to give them a scientific basis. He also had the means to apply the cultivation of the soil on a large scale. The moorland culture was successfully copied in moor areas in numerous countries.
method
Rimpau had drainage ditches about five meters wide dug parallel at intervals of about 25 meters. The intermediate areas were covered with a 15-20 cm thick layer of sand, which came from layers of earth beneath the peatland. The areas raised in this way were the dams that gave the dam culture its name, also known as beds . The overlying layer of sand was plowed flat and fertilized with potassium phosphate . The height difference between the bed area and the water had to be at least one meter.
The method resulted in considerable increases in yield. The reasons are the low evaporation rate, the higher soil temperature at the bottom of the sand layer and the lower weed growth in the soil. Field crops such as winter and summer cereals, rape, peas, beans, clover, potatoes, sugar beet, maize and poppy seeds could be grown with good success on the areas converted into arable land. The areas with unfavorable soil conditions became meadows and pastures.
literature
- Gustav Palis, Bernhard Peitschner: The Drömling: From the moor to the cultural landscape. Geiger, Horb am Neckar 1998, ISBN 3-89570-368-0 .