Schiffelwirtschaft
Especially in the Eifel region and in the Hunsrück, the term Schiffelwirtschaft describes a former form of fire cultivation , in which the turf layer of the Schiffelländer was peeled off, dried and burned in order to use it for fertilization. This use was also known in the Sauerland and the High Westerwald . The Schiffelwirtschaft is similar to the Rottwirtschaft with the difference that in the Schiffelwirtschaft the fallow land consisted of lawn, heather or gorse brush, while in the Rottwirtschaft it was formed from coppice . Due to the similarity, it is assumed that the Schiffelwirtschaft emerged from the Rottwirtschaft.
The ashes from the ship's fires were spread on the ground with the autumn sowing for fertilization. Rye was usually sown in the first year and plowed in shallow. The following crop rotation was based on the quality of the soil, whereby oats were sown in the second year and buckwheat in the third year on poor soils. After the third or fourth year of cultivation, the soil was mostly depleted and left to razor yourself. They then served as poor pasture for 15 to 20 years before the lawn was peeled again and the cultivation cycle started over.
The sparse sward was quickly eaten away, leaving only the plants that were spurned by the animals. This is how the typical heather landscapes emerged over time . It formed heather and undemanding bristle grass . The heather was cut regularly. As a result, a peat-like soil cover formed over the years. This ground cover was shoveled ( shoveled ). The pests were also used as litter for livestock and as fuel.
Individual evidence
- ^ Agricultural Yearbooks, Volume 47, Royal Prussian State Economics College, Prussia, Ministry of Agriculture, Domains and Forests (Prussia), 1914.
- ^ Entry Schüffelland in: Reinhard Pilkmann-Pohl: Low German dictionary of the Sauerland region of Cologne. Strobel-Verlag, Arnsberg 1988; Häbel, H.-J. (1980): The cultural landscape on the basalt plateau of the Westerwald from the 16th to the 19th century. Wiesbaden 1980, p. 5.
- ^ Josef Schmithüsen: Contributions to regional studies of the Rhineland , University of Bonn. Institute of Geography, University of Bonn. Geographical Seminar, 1934.
- ^ University of Bonn - Geographical Institute: Work on Rhenish Regional Studies ,: 16-20, 1952.
literature
- K. Paffen: Heath vegetation and wasteland farming in the Eifel. A plant-sociological-cultural-geographic study. Diss. Bonn, 1940