Wine shop

Agriculture in the Rhineland is not only famous for its wine, but also for the wheat, barley, vegetables and sugar beet grown there. At the beginning of the 19th century farming was in the throes of a crisis. It was barely able to provide for the needs of a growing population. Famines were the result.

Industrialization also caused an upturn here. The use of modern machines led to higher productivity. Moreover, artificial fertilizers and cultivation programmes increased yields to an unprecedented extent. New discoveries, including those made at the Agriculture Education Institute founded 1847 in Bonn, changed farming methods of production. The time of famine was over.

This passage from an agricultural magazine of 1862 describes experimentation with new kinds of fertilizer:
"What experience has been gained in the fertilization of vineyards with Beinschwarz from the sugar factory. Mr.Linz reports that, in an experiment, he took an old vineyard which had not been fertilized for many years and divided it in two parts. He applied the black sugar byproduct to one half and left the other without. The fertilized half displayed stronger development and darker leaves."
(Zeitschrift des landwirtschaftlichen Vereins für Rheinpreußen, 1862, S.1f.)

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