Juchart

A Juchart (also Jucharte or Juchard, in French Pose, in Italian Pertica) was a unit of area measurement used in rural Switzerland until the early 20th century. In other German speaking regions it was known as a Joch, Jochart, Jauchart, Jauch, Juck or Juckert. The Juchart was a measurement of the amount of farm land that a man could plow in one day. It is similar to the northern German traditional measurement of a Morgen, which was approximately the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in the morning hours of a day. In the French speaking Canton of Vaud a related unit of acreage, the Pose was used.[1]

Size

As with most units of this type, the size of a Juchart varied widely. It depended on the productivity and shape of the land.

Size of the Juchart
Region (timespan) Name Size in m² Size in acres Subdivisions
Plains (traditional) Juchart[2] 4,100–6,200 1.0–1.5 acres 4 Vierlinge or 16 Quärtli
Swiss Plateau (traditional) Juchart[2] 2,700–3,600 0.67–0.89 acres 4 Vierlinge or 16 Quärtli
St. Gallen (traditional) Tagehri[3] 1,738 0.429 acres
St. Gallen, Graubünden, Vorderrhein (traditional) Mal[4] 1,050–1,760 0.26–0.43 acres
Graubünden Rhein valley (vineyards, traditional) Mal[4] 1,100 0.27 acres
Ticino (traditional) Pertica[2] 700–850 0.17–0.21 acres Spazzo (4–5 m²), Staggio (7–33 m²)
Valais (traditional) Fischela[2] 380–850 0.094–0.210 acres
Neuchâtel (traditional) Journal[5] 2,700 0.67 acres perche or émine
Valais (traditional) Journal[5] 6,200 1.5 acres
Fribourg (traditional) Béquille[6] 135 0.033 acres
Moutier (traditional) Chaîne[7] 106 0.026 acres
Wooded land (traditional) Juchart 3,360–4,460 0.83–1.10 acres
Meadows (traditional) Mannwerk/seiteur or faux [8] 2,900–3,900 0.72–0.96 acres
Vaud – Meadows (1822) Fossorier[8] 4,500 1.1 acres
Vaud (1822) Pose[2] 4,500 1.1 acres 8 Fossorier or Ouvrier
Ticino (1826) Pertica[2] 500 0.12 acres Tavole, Gettate, Once or Quadretti
German Switzerland (1838) Juchart[2] 3,600 0.89 acres 4 Vierlinge or 16 Quärtli
Notes ^a Also a unit of grain volume, approx. 12.3–29.7 liters

References

  1. ^ Christian Noback, Friedrich Eduard Noback: Vollständiges Taschenbuch der Münz-, Maß- und Gewichtsverhältnisse. Book 1, F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1851, pg. 463
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Juchart in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  3. ^ Tagehri in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. ^ a b Mal in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  5. ^ a b Journal in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  6. ^ Béquille in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  7. ^ Chaîne in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  8. ^ a b Mannwerk [Mannsmad] in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.