From the blue to the green Allgäu

Belgian flax field in bloom

Allgäu grass landscape

The metaphor from blue to green Allgäu is intended to symbolize the change from flax cultivation to dairy farming, especially in the western and upper Allgäu regions of the 18th and 19th centuries.

origin

The pastor and poet Peter Dörfler made the play on words about the change of landscape color known to the public in his Allgäu trilogy, written from 1934 to 1936, a well-read novel about the cheese pioneer Carl Hirnbein . The frequent unreflected repetition in publications of advertising literature and local history solidified this idea more and more and hindered a professional processing. ^81. may have been villagers but only misunderstood, because before in his Allgaeu trilogy of " two blue skies, the upper and lower " says he writes of " a colorful carpet - dark of the woods on the heights of emerald the Matten and Egarten , light yellow from the oat and barley fields and sky blue in the heyday of the flax fields ”, whereby the smallest part is usually mentioned at the end. ^{P. 91.}

doubt

Today's farms in the Allgäu are specialized production facilities for milk production on the basis of the largest possible machine-managed grassland. The additional self-sufficiency is limited to timber harvesting and small animal breeding. The other needs for the lifestyle are met with the proceeds from the dairy industry and a small part from tourism (holiday guests). The extensive grassland management undoubtedly gives the Allgäu a dominant green color today.

On the other hand, the assumption that the Allgäu used to be presented in a deep blue by the blooming flax is more and more contested. Until the middle of the 19th century, the focus was on self-sufficiency. The farmers cultivated grain and field crops as well as keeping animals under difficult conditions. Flax cultivation and hand spinning were also used for personal use and only gave a limited amount of money. The flax fields could only have taken up a very small proportion of the total agricultural area.

If the saying from blue to green Allgäu, which is so popular today, is to be valid, it requires a year-long, area-wide blue color for the Allgäu landscape for the starting position. But whether this situation really existed is more than questionable. Andreas Kurz and Heinz Mößlang examined the individual requirement elements and presented their results.

Sources

Eyewitnesses

Peter Dörfler , who is widely believed to be the author of the statement, cannot have seen the blue landscape himself. Its publication dates from the 1930s. At that time, the change to grassland culture was already 50 to 100 years ago. It has not yet been proven that he took it over from a literary predecessor. Contemporary painting also does not depict an Allgäu dominated by blue paint.

Early time

Until the middle of the 19th century there were no statistics on the cultivation of flax plants in the Allgäu according to today's standards. However, many tax regulations and accounts in the documents of the feudal lords (monasteries, counts, petty nobles) show that the flax portion played only an insignificant role among the cultivated crops.

19th century

In view of the generally sparse sources, the description "The rural people of the Allgäu in their doings and activities" by pastor and Reichstag deputy Joseph Schelbert (* 1834 near Sonthofen) indicates that in the time before the dairy industry flourished, grain cultivation was one was of great importance. Flax cultivation and canvas weaving were only dealt with incidentally . ^{P. 91.} In Agricole Statistics 1830, for example, flax cultivation for the municipality of Oberreute is given as 24 daily farms, which corresponds to only 0.7% of the total municipal area compared to 840 daily farms in total, so negligibly small. ^{P. 92.}

Valuation aspects

Amount of cultivation versus demand

From the Middle Ages until the advent of cotton, flax or linseed as a starting plant had an important function in the manufacture of linen thread, its weaving into canvas and thus the production of clothing. Beyond the needs of the agricultural society, it was increasingly grown where there were economic advantages. In any case, this does not seem to have been the Allgäu, which is poorly developed in terms of traffic and agriculture.

On the contrary, there are repeatedly unsuccessful suggestions and demands that flax production must be promoted in the region in order to save the weavers from having to import expensive raw materials. Flax and hemp are only produced in quantities that do not completely meet the needs of the community members. There is no surplus for sale. […] Expanding flax and hemp cultivation and expanding it into greater dimensions is not considered advantageous by most because they earn more in the time required with straw hat work and in the field and with the necessary Growing something else more easily. The reference refers to the Westallgäu center Lindenberg / Weiler, where the farm part-time capacities with straw hat production were fully utilized. ^{P. 85 note 37.}

In 1819 , Franz von Miller (later economist and successor to Friedrich List ) , who worked as chief clerk (lawyer) at the Weiler district court in 1809/10, stated in a memorandum: Above all, it is necessary to increase the cultivation of flax to obtain as much flax as possible so that it does not grow Raw materials are lacking. The yarn must be produced in their own country so that the weavers do not have to import up to two thirds of it. ^{P. 85 note 38.}

Limited homework capacity

In today's grassland management, grass is the sole product of an agricultural industry. In the past, however, in self-sufficient agriculture, flax was not the main product, but only a by-product of a farm. The production of linen from the flax also consisted of many operations and already fully occupied a farming family with a flax growing area of 1/4 day's work. ^{Pp. 93-85.} In addition, in the upper Westallgäu (Lindenberg, Weiler, Heimenkirch) the home working capacities were fully utilized with the economically more productive straw hat production .

Common flax

Color only during flowering

While the green color of the grass covers the entire growing season, the blue color is limited to the flowering period of the flax plant. Within the three months in question from June to August, the flowering time of a stand from the opening of the first to the closing of the last flower in the case of fiber salmon (-lein) is only about one to two weeks.

Special crop because of crop rotation

Due to the strong deprivation of nutrients, flax required a cultivation cycle that permitted only one cultivation period within six years and was not compatible with the three-year cycle of the main crops ( three- field farming ). Thus, the six-year crop rotation for the flax plant would have allowed a maximum of one sixth of it for the flax, even if the entire cultivation area was theoretically fully used. ^{P. 86, note 42.}

The cultivation of flax was therefore limited from the outset to small-scale cultivated areas close to the farm with special rights, which were not subject to the field obligation and which were protected from the evacuated cattle by wattle fences. The flax shared these so-called Beunten with hemp, vegetables and animal feed. ^{Pp. 87, 88.}

conclusion

The small acreage for flax can only have been sporadic little blue spots of color in the landscape. Even Dörfler wrote of a carpet and spoke of sky-blue rectangles without specifying their size. ^{P. 96.}

Most recently, the author and well-known film and television director Leo Hiemer in his latest work Carl Hirnbein: The Allgäu Pioneer describes the phrase of the "blue Allgäu", which made brain bone into "green", as a cliché that has become a favorite .

literature

Andreas Kurz: Flax as a special culture in the Allgäu. In: Yearbook of the district of Lindau. 2001, pp. 81-90.
Heinz Mößlang: Oberreute in the time of the "blue Allgäu". In: Yearbook of the district of Lindau. 2001, pp. 91-96.
Peter Dörfler: Allgäu trilogy (novels, in detail: 1. The necessary 2. The master 3. The alp king). G. Grote, 1934-1936.
Leo Hiemer, Peter Elgass (Ed.): Carl Hirnbein: The Allgäu Pioneer. Verlag Hephaistos, Immenstadt-Werdenstein 2012, ISBN 978-3-931951-70-2 .
Joseph Schelbert: The rural people of the Allgäu in their doings and doings. Feuerlein, Kempten 1873. (Reprint: Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag, Kempten 1983, ISBN 3-88006-088-6 )
Siegbert Eckel: Where the flax was only sparse. In: Heimat Allgäu. Verlag Hephaistos, Immenstadt 2011, Ed. 2, pp. 30–32.

Web links

Review of the book Leo Hiemer: Carl Hirnbein: Der Allgäu-Pionier In: Webpräsenz Kultur Oberallgäu
- Presentation flyer

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Andreas Kurz: Flax as a special culture in the Allgäu. 2001.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Heinz Mößlang: Oberreute in the time of the "blue Allgäu". 2001.
↑ Common flax. Wikipedia article
↑ Leo Hiemer, Peter Elgass (ed.): Carl Hirnbein: The Allgäu Pioneer. 2012.
↑ Head of the local history documentation center of the Lindau district (Lake Constance)
↑ Local home nurse in Oberreute

[Kurz2001-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Andreas Kurz: Flax as a special culture in the Allgäu. 2001.

[Mößlang2001-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Heinz Mößlang: Oberreute in the time of the "blue Allgäu". 2001.

[3] Common flax. Wikipedia article

[Hiemer2012-4] Leo Hiemer, Peter Elgass (ed.): Carl Hirnbein: The Allgäu Pioneer. 2012.

[5] Head of the local history documentation center of the Lindau district (Lake Constance)

[6] Local home nurse in Oberreute