farming techniques. (1) They replaced the traditional three field systems with convertible husbandry and multiple course crop rotations, thus greatly reducing the fallow. (2) Subsequently as we shall see they also led the way in applying chemical fertilizers and steam-powered farm machinery. vi) The necessary labour force to work these large estates or commercial farms came from the growing number of dispossessed landless peasants: in sharp contrast to France, eastern Germany had a surplus rather than a scarcity of agricultural peasant labour. b) The Lands West of the Elbe River: i) Here the land distribution was much more akin to that found in northern France after the Revolution: i.e., strongly skewed to small-scale peasant farming. ii) In south-west Germany, especially, most of the land was distributed in the form of very small scale peasant holdings: smaller indeed than was typical in France. iii) In central Germany, however, just west of the Elbe: we find a predominance of medium sized holdings (smaller nobility, gentry, richer peasants). iv) From the 1850s the spread of the railways, as in France, greatly promoted the spread of enclosures, by promoting the commercialization of agriculture, and by reducing farming costs. v) in reducing the need for wood furthermore, the development of coal mining was also important: fuel and thus permitting much forest land to be cleared and enclosed. vi) Again, as was the case in France, enclosure in western Germany did not generally lead to estates: again enclosure was more in the form of reallocation of peasant strips into compact but small farms. 5. Technical Advances in German Agriculture a) Productivity Gains: i) Of all European countries (certainly continental countries) after 1850, Germany -- central and eastern Germany -- made far and away the greatest technical advances in agriculture, achieved by far the greatest productivity gains. ii) Those gains were all the more impressive, when we consider the relatively poor soils and harsh climate involved for much of German agriculture, compared to northern France and England. b) The initial phase of productivity advances: the cultivation of leguminous crops: i) Leguminous or nitrogen fixing crops: (1) were planted as fodder crops, in form of multiple course crop rotations, to permit sharp reductions in the amount of fallow, or to eliminate the need for fallow lands.
farming techniques. (1) They replaced the traditional three field systems with convertible husbandry and multiple course crop rotations, thus greatly reducing the fallow. (2) Subsequently as we shall see they also led the way in applying chemical fertilizers and steam-powered farm machinery. vi) The necessary labour force to work these large estates or commercial farms came from the growing number of dispossessed landless peasants: in sharp contrast to France, eastern Germany had a surplus rather than a scarcity of agricultural peasant labour. b) The Lands West of the Elbe River: i) Here the land distribution was much more akin to that found in northern France after the Revolution: i.e., strongly skewed to small-scale peasant farming. ii) In south-west Germany, especially, most of the land was distributed in the form of very small scale peasant holdings: smaller indeed than was typical in France. iii) In central Germany, however, just west of the Elbe: we find a predominance of medium sized holdings (smaller nobility, gentry, richer peasants). iv) From the 1850s the spread of the railways, as in France, greatly promoted the spread of enclosures, by promoting the commercialization of agriculture, and by reducing farming costs. v) furthermore, the development of coal mining was also important: in reducing the need for wood fuel and thus permitting much forest land to be cleared and enclosed. vi) Again, as was the case in France, enclosure in western Germany did not generally lead to estates: again enclosure was more in the form of reallocation of peasant strips into compact but small farms. 5. Technical Advances in German Agriculture a) Productivity Gains: i) Of all European countries (certainly continental countries) after 1850, Germany -- central and eastern Germany -- made far and away the greatest technical advances in agriculture, achieved by far the greatest productivity gains. ii) Those gains were all the more impressive, when we consider the relatively poor soils and harsh climate involved for much of German agriculture, compared to northern France and England. b) The initial phase of productivity advances: the cultivation of leguminous crops: i) Leguminous or nitrogen fixing crops: (1) were planted as fodder crops, in form of multiple course crop rotations, to permit sharp reductions in the amount of fallow, or to eliminate the need for fallow lands.
22geragr.docx