Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Page 144

FAROESE SPADE-CULTIVATION
148
Fig. 5. Klárur, used to smoothen field after sowing.
Drawn at Gásadalur in 1986 by R. Guttesen.
processes in the buried grass-manure mix-
ture, which also helps to increase availability
of plant-nutrients. In most cases soil im-
provement was furthered by the addition of
household refuse that could increase pH,
and the addition of seaweed.
An additional feature of reinavelta, in re-
lation to the short growing season, was the
utilization of relatively fast-maturing types
of cereals, especially selected sorts of six-
rowed barley (valaks and langaks), that
coulđ ripen under quite wet conditions.
Faroese soil thicknesses are very variable.
It should be mentioned, that reinavelta easi-
ly adapts to these, although very thin soils
must be avoided, unless a certain concentra-
tion of soil can take place. On steep slopes
this may be accomplished by building of ter-
races, bríkað jørð.
In a long term perspective the soil im-
provement seems to have been considerable.
Since the rim of each teigur dug out and dis-
tributed on the surface amounted to about
one seventh of the width of the teigur, and
since the digging was repeated approximately
every seventh year, the whole volume of a
teigur was thoroughly treated and moved
once per forty-nine years. This may seem a
very intensive tilling of the soil, and in a way
it is, because the whole surface of a field is
cultivated in every cultivation cycle.
Moreover, the soil is dug to a great depth.
Compared to ploughing, the volume of
soil moved per harvest is, however, rather
modest. In reinavelta, one seventh of the
surface is treated down to about double
plough-share depth against seven sevenths to
a single share depth with ploughing, which
means that ploughing moves at least three
and a half times as much soil - and this was
sometimes done seven times as often when
the fallow period was omitted. For the hard
work of ploughing a draught-animal is
necessary; reinavelta can be performed
without.
However, considering the large amount of
precipitation and the resulting leaching of
plant nutrition, ploughing may even be less
desirable. Leaching is probably kept at
reasonable levels by reinavelta because so
much nutrition is chemically bound to the
organic compounds of the rich grassward
and the adducted manure.
Evidently, reinavelta is no specific remedy
to the problem of the wet harvesting period.