0
Leaving some of the available farm land fallow is part of a strategy known as crop rotation. Crop rotation has many benefits, including replenishing nitrogen in the soil, avoiding buildup of pathogens and pests, and to avoid the depletion of specific nutrients needed for a given crop.
Early in the middle ages Europeans generally used a two field system, meaning they farmed half of their land annually, and left the other half fallow. Beginning roughly around the year 1000 there was a gradual shift to a three field system. Under the three field system one third of the land is planted late in the year with a winter crop, like wheat or rye, which would lay dormant through the winter and be harvested the following summer. One third for land was planted in the spring with a crop like beans, peas, oats, or barley. One third was left fallow. The use of each field then rotated with each passing year.
The three field system had several advantages. First, it put about 16% more land into food production each year, meaning more food was available. It also helped spread the periods of heavy labor, such as harvest and planting, over the course of the year. By frequently planting legume crops such as beans and peas essential nitrogen was returned to the soil. Medieval people didn't know what nitrogen was, or the other scientific benefits of crop rotation, but they understood that it clearly helped increase crop yields.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoThat allowed the field to hopefully renew it's nutrients. Now they are rotated.
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
What did a page wear in the middle ages?
the page wored its normal clothes as when it left its home
Did the protestants split from the catholic church during the Eurpeaon middle ages or renaissance?
The Protestants left the Roman Catholic Church after the Middle Ages ended, during the Renaissance.
What is meant by medieval texts?
Medieval texts would be either material that was written during the Middle Ages, or material that was transcribed or translated during the Middle Ages. Since there are nearly no original texts left from ancient times, the medieval copies of ancient literature are very important.
Why were the died bodies left to rot middle age?
Because they had nothing better to do with it in the middle ages and they did not bury them because many people died back then and it would be a hard,backbreaking and tedious task.
What new opportunities were available for peasants in the late middle ages?
No new opportunities for serfs in the Middle Ages except where the plague left a need for people to fill the jobs left empty. Some men also were able to get freeman status and became mercenaries for the various armies fighting each other. The priesthood also provided a way to a better life.
What is meant by current fallow land?
Land is periodically left idle to recuperate. That land that is it is not planted to a crop is called fallow land. Since a farmer can't live without income he only leaves a portion of the land lie fallow at any one time. Whatever land is not raising a crop at some given time is "current fallow land".
Why is land left fallow?
Farmland is sometimes 'left fallow' meaning unseeded so the soil can gain nutrients over that period. You cannot keep on growing the same kind of crops year after year or it depletes the soil of certatin nutrients.
What do you call a field when it is not in use?
Fallow is the term we use to describe land that is left unsown or uncultivated. That is done to help restore the fertility of the land.Fallow is the term we use to describe land that is left unsown or uncultivated. That is done to help restore the fertility of the land.Fallow is the term we use to describe land that is left unsown or uncultivated. That is done to help restore the fertility of the land.Fallow is the term we use to describe land that is left unsown or uncultivated. That is done to help restore the fertility of the land.
What did a page wear in the middle ages?
the page wored its normal clothes as when it left its home
Did the protestants split from the catholic church during the Eurpeaon middle ages or renaissance?
The Protestants left the Roman Catholic Church after the Middle Ages ended, during the Renaissance.
What is the sun's motion through our galaxy?
someone is a little left back in the middle ages. The sun does NOT move.
How do you define fallow?
Plowed but left unseeded during a growing season.
What does England Mean?
England was named from the Old English words "Engla land", "Englaland", & "Angelcynn" meaning "Land of the Angles". Angles were just one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the early part of the middle ages.
What did not happen as a result of the Crusades?
The Crusades, and there were many of them in the Middle Ages, meant to keep the Holy Land, a Christian stronghold. It's great distance from Europe however, left it to Islamic peoples to dominate Jerusalem, as one example.
What is field fallow?
Definitely not an immigration question, but fallow fields are those that are left dormant between planting seasons in order to allow the soil to regenerate its mineral base. In general terms fallow means a field where nothing in growing.
What does England name means?
It is the land of the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes to invade in the Middle Ages
How did summer fallow damage the soil?
If the summer fallow practice left the soil bare of any plant materials or residue, the soil was left exposed to potential erosion. Modern conservation tillage practices have greatly reduced this possibility.
