Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (4.1980/1983)

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REVIEWS

HINRICH SIUTS: Bduerliche und handwerk-
liche Arbeitsgerdte in Westfalen. Die Gerdte der
Landwirtschaft und des Landhandwerks 1890-
1930. Aschendorff, Munster 1982. 448 pp. 200
plates, with more than 1,700 drawings.
This imposing work in a large format contains in
addition to the text with its illustrations, 1,400
notes, 22 double column pages of references, and
26 index pages. The research work for bringing
together the material has been going on since
1966. The introduction deals with the method of
approach, the results, and the necessary limita-
tions. As the publication now appears, its aim is,
in the words of Siuts: “The red threads of the
presentation are the implements and their func-
tions in the course of work. What is exclusively
dealt with is the development in Westfalen, for
the period covered by the investigation, of the
material that was brought to light, leaving out all
data relating to customs and magical conceptions.
It was not possible to examine the age of the
implements, and their distribution in Europe,
since this would have doubled the time necessary
for this work. Instead, at the beginning of the
individual chapters, a relatively complete but
selected set of references is given.” Special em-
phasis is laid on the literature of the Netherlands,
because of its great importance for Westfalen and
North Germany, “since in the course of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many innova-
tions passed from the Netherlands into the area of
North-West Germany”.
The book consists of two main parts: Farm
Work and Rural Craftsmen. The first part covers
207 pages and deals with work in the field, stable
and dwelling-house, the second covers 130 pages,
and describes 21 handicrafts. All this has been
impossible for one man, but the greatest burden
has been borne by Siuts himself, who has dealt
with all the material on farm work, except for
home slaughtering, which Max Elpers deals with.

And Siuts is also responsible for the main part of
the handicrafts section, though shoemaking is
dealt with by Karl G. Heinisch, coopering by
Thomas Ostendorf, the printing of blue cloth by
Renate Elpers, pottery by Wingolf Lehnemann,
and tile burning by Fritz Bartelt.
It is impossible to undertake a review of the
individual parts of the book in a notice of this
kind. On the other hand it is reasonable to draw
attention to the use that researchers outside Ger-
many also will be able to make of the documenta-
tion provided by the book through the text and
illustrations, and above all through the wealth of
references in the notes and bibliographical in-
formation. The most important, and fullest, are
naturally the references to German sources,
where Siuts is most at home, but the literature of
other language areas is also well represented. It
can naturally scarcely be avoided that some titles
are not forthcoming. For example in relation to
ploughing equipment it would have been valuable
to refer to Axel Steensberg’s numerous writings
on Danish ploughs, and in relation to the exploi-
tation of forests, there is Steensbergs’ article in
the yearbook Kuml 1955, which reviews different
ways of organising slash-and-burn cultivation
past and present. The section on shepherd life
could have made reference to H. P. Hansens’
book on Shepherd Life on the Heath (in Jutland).
Whilst Swedish literature is well represented,
Norwegian sources hardly appear, except for the
outstanding work on our old farming culture by
Visted and Stigum. But a central work such as
Fartein Valen-Sendstad’s Norwegian Agricultural
Implements 1800-1850 (1964) is not mentioned.
On glancing through the book, the reader is
irresistibly reminded of Scheuermeiers’ two vol-
umes on Farm Work. The only thing lacking is a
section giving photographic illustrations of the
equipment in action, but Siuts would certainly be
the first to regret this lack himself.
Holger Rasmussen