Three - field system - wikipedia Three - field system This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia 's quality standards. The specific problem is : Good start of article, but needs some additional work Please help improve this article if you can. ( August 2013 ) The three - field system is a regime of crop rotation that was used in medieval and early - modern Europe. Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons. Under this system, the arable land of an estate or village was divided into three large fields : one was planted in the autumn with winter wheat or rye ; the second field was planted with other crops such as peas, lentils, or beans ; and the third was left fallow, in order to allow the soil of that field to regain its nutrients. With each rotation, the field would be used differently, so that a field would be planted for two out of the three years used, whilst one year it `` rested ''. Previously a `` two field system '' had been in place, with half the land being left fallow. The three field system allowed farmers to plant more crops and therefore to increase production and legumes have the ability to fix nitrogen and so fertilize the soil. With more crops available to sell, this also helped the economy in general to thrive. The three field system required more plowing of land and its introduction coincided with the adoption of the moldboard plow. These parallel developments worked hand in hand to increase the productivity of the land. The legume crop needed summer rain to succeed, and so the three - field system was less successful around the Mediterranean. Oats for horse food could also be planted in the spring, which, combined with the adoption of horse collars and horseshoes, led to the replacement of oxen by horses for many farming tasks, with a concomitant increase in agricultural productivity and the nutrition available to the population. One of the first Germans to question this system, and new ways of expanding beyond this medieval system was Johann Friedrich Mayer, in his 1769 work Lehre vom Gyps als vorzueglich guten Dung zu allen Erd - Gewaechsen auf Aeckern und Wiesen, Hopfen - und Weinbergen. References Jump up ^ Noble, Thomas ( 2002 ). ( 33 ) chapter - format = requires chapter - url = ( help ). The foundations of Western civilization. Chantilly, VA : Teaching Co. ISBN 978 - 1565856370. Jump up ^ Wigelsworth, Jeffrey R. ( 2006 ). Science and technology in medieval European life. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 10. Jump up ^ Roeber, A.G. ( 1998 ). Palatines, Liberty, and Property : German Lutherans in Colonial German America. p. 58. GND : 4150647 - 9 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Three-field_system&oldid=800148357 '' Categories : Agricultural soil science History of Europe Sustainable agriculture Medieval agriculture Early Modern economics Hidden categories : Pages using citations with format and no URL Articles needing cleanup from August 2013 All pages needing cleanup Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from August 2013 Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from August 2013 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk About Wikipedia Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Français 한국어 Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Русский Slovenčina Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 11 September 2017, at 19 : 38. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what was the purpose of the three-field system
Answer: allowed farmers to plant more crops and therefore to increase production