Translations:Benutzer:Arian/Klett-Mini-Test/449/en

The perfected form of the water meadow was still to be found, up until the middle of the twentieth century, in the upland regions of central Germany. The author was able to marvel at the last remnants of the so-called *Buckelwiesen* — raised ridged meadows — in the Rhön, shortly before the destruction of these artful formations. To lay them out, to «fertilise» them with clear water, to tend them, to mow them for hay, and to bring in the hay shouldered in large cloths — this was exclusively the most laborious hand-work. It was rewarded with up to five hay-cuts a year. From a millrace set higher up the valley slope, one earth mound was built beside the next down the slope, each with roof-like lateral flanks. Along the ridge of these mound-roofs, running at right angles from the mill-stream, ran a narrow trench — less than a spade's width — with zero gradient. At the time of irrigation, governed by the phases of the moon, the water flowed broadly over both sides of the trench edge, trickled