1. Översvämningsängar längs med Ätran och Emån 1690-1750: Om ängstyper, jordar och avkastning i hö.
- Author
-
Jacobsson, Oscar
- Subjects
AGRICULTURAL economics ,HISTORICAL maps ,ARABLE land ,ANIMAL culture ,SOIL depth - Abstract
The meadow was essential for early modern Swedish agriculture, providing hay for stalled animals, which in turn produced manure for arable fields and also led to specialisation in animal husbandry. On dry land, meadows were common, yet they were often situated on periodically inundated areas beside rivers and lakes too. This article studies how the nature of these flood-meadows varied along the rivers Emån and Ätran in the early modern period, when both dry and wet meadowland were features of the floodplain. The study examines how floodmeadows are described on early maps and how this information relates to the underlying physical conditions in terms of soil types and depths (a subject that has seen little previous research, especially in southern Sweden). This work was carried out using GIS analysis. The article then examines if flooding improved hay yields by comparing meadows inside and outside the floodplain at two settlements beside each river. The main determiner for whether a floodmeadow consisted of dry or wet meadowland was its soil depth, where dry floodplain meadows were often located on relatively deeper soils than those of wet meadows beside the two watercourses. In addition, dry floodplain meadows tended to be situated on floodplains with coarser sediments. These patterns are, however, considerably clearer beside Emån than along Flood-meadows beside the rivers Ätran and Emån, 1690-1750: Meadow types, soils and hay yields By Oscar Jacobsson Keywords: Flood-meadows, historical maps, early modern period, Sweden, Ätran, Emån Ätran. The greater infiltration capacity of deeper, coarser soils made inundations more shortlived, and probably limited the prevailing wet conditions too. In terms of flood-meadow hay yields, the study shows only slight variations in yield between the dry and wet floodplain meadows at Ätran. Along the river Emån, wet-meadow yields are generally greater than those of dry floodmeadows. The detailed settlement studies show that the yield per acre for the flood-meadows along Ätran was roughly the same, if not slightly lower, than the meadows outside the floodplain. It is thus questionable whether flooding had a production-enhancing effect on the Ätran floodplain during this period. Nevertheless, flood-meadows still comprised a substantial part of the total meadow area, and therefore played an important role in the local economy, which was based on a one-field system with small areas of arable land in relation to meadowland. The flood-meadows along Emån have a clearly higher yield per acre compared to the meadows on dry land, which likely reflects the productionenhancing effect of flooding on these meadows via natural sediment fertilisation. The high yield of these meadows also permitted larger areas of arable land in relation to meadowland, with flood-meadows therefore contributing to a more diverse agricultural economy in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023