Plaggen soil
Encyclopedia
Plaggen is a type of soil
created in Europe in the Middle Ages
, as a result of so called 'plaggen cultivation', created by cutting turves of peat from an outfield area, and then using them as bedding for cattle; the slurry-soaked bedding was later spread on the arable fields as fertilizer. Over time, this created a very rich agricultural soil which could be over 1m in depth—unlike our modern arable soils, which tend to be just 30 cm deep.
In Orkney these soils were created already in the 12th to 13th Centuries, and on some islands in Shetland these methods continued to be used until the 1960s.
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
created in Europe in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, as a result of so called 'plaggen cultivation', created by cutting turves of peat from an outfield area, and then using them as bedding for cattle; the slurry-soaked bedding was later spread on the arable fields as fertilizer. Over time, this created a very rich agricultural soil which could be over 1m in depth—unlike our modern arable soils, which tend to be just 30 cm deep.
In Orkney these soils were created already in the 12th to 13th Centuries, and on some islands in Shetland these methods continued to be used until the 1960s.