three-field system

three-field system, method of agricultural organization introduced in Europe in the Middle Ages and representing a decisive advance in production techniques. In the old two-field system half the land was sown to crop and half left fallow each season; in the three-field system, however, only a third of the land lay fallow. In the autumn one third was planted to wheat, barley, or rye, and in the spring another third of the land was planted to oats, barley, and legumes to be harvested in late summer. The legumes (peas and beans) strengthened the soil by their nitrogen-fixing ability and at the same time improved the human diet.

Because spring planting required summer rains, it was principally effective north of the Loire and the Alps. By providing two harvests a year it reduced the risk of crop failure and famine. It also made plowing more effective by two means. First, by doing slightly more plowing than under the two-field system, a community of peasants could roughly double their crop yield, though in practice the fallow was usually plowed twice to turn under the green manure. Secondly, the cultivation of a surplus of oats in the spring planting provided feed that made possible the substitution of the swifter gaited horse for ox power, after the introduction of the padded horse collar.