Did ⛏️Dwarves do Agriculture?

[HLGStrider]

While caves are pretty much rock, there's still clay and packed dirt and all of that fun stuff. There was obviously water supply, so my question is (they certainly had plenty of space), couldn't they have had gardens of thier own?

Only with an elaborate system of shafts to let in sun light. Very few types of plants grow in the dark.

Still, I don't think that familiarity means that they grew their own. Trade would explain a knowledge and use of these items. It simply would've required productive neighbors.

 

[YayGollum]

Hm. Very few spiders grow to be bigger than dogs, too. Perhaps there could be all kinds of exotic things in Tolkien's fantastical world! Towards the Dwarves, I'll be sticking with the idea that they used the land around their mountains for plenty but that they were large fans of trade bustlage. Towards Orcs, they'd hunt and plunder all of the time, but I am thinking that they would have some surprising innovations of their own. Mel messed with the elves to make them that way. He knew where he planned on filing them away until they were required. Messing with plants to ensure an adequate (but probably gross) food supply would be easy for him. Also, Orcs could have just used their creepy magic and knowledge to make better plants, since elves are surrounded by all kinds of creepy things that I've never heard of, too.

 

[Firawyn]

Still, I don't think that familiarity means that they grew their own. Trade would explain a knowledge and use of these items. It simply would've required productive neighbors.

You have to keep in mind that Middle Earth is primitive in comparison to our modern agriculture. They had mules with pull along plows, not John Deer tractors. At best I'd say that one man could manage one to three acres worth of feilds, and he'd need at least one acre of that to feed his own family. Factor in that the farmers would be feeding not only thier families, but other tradesmen and thier families.

Say for example, there is a village that has 1,000 people in it, and they have 100 acres of land. So that means that every acre had to provide food for ten people. (I grew up in a "farm county", so I know a bit about this.) So imagine life that way, and then think about how any smart town leaders would plan for a "bad crop year", and save what was not used. By his descriptions of the Laketown (which we can assume is the basic town), there was that kind of a people/acrege balence. I simple have a very hard time imagining that the dwarves could have been supported by outside agriculture.

Only with an elaborate system of shafts to let in sun light. Very few types of plants grow in the dark.

At least in Moria, we know there were such shafts, to allow for light in certain areas. Also - to use a modern example - anytime miners are digging in an area, the first thing they do is dig secondary shafts for air, in case of cave in. I suspect that the dwarves were just as smart.

Hm. Very few spiders grow to be bigger than dogs, too. Perhaps there could be all kinds of exotic things in Tolkien's fantastical world!

I agree with this 100%. Thanks Yay.

 

[HLGStrider]

Even in ancient cultures there was a certain amount of trade for food. It would have to be very fertile land near to dwarves, but homesteaders in pioneer America wouldn't have had much better equipment and they general idea behind most farmers even back then was to sale the surplus grain. I still think, allowing for smaller populations, it could be done.

 

[Firawyn]

I think it can be argued either way.

 

[Tar-Elenion]

"The Dwarves had an agriculture – which in early times they practiced when isolated and unable to buy grain etc. by barter. They had invented a “plough” of some sort – which they dragged as well as steered themselves: they were tough and strong – but they did not delight in such labour of necessity."
Nature of Middle-earth, Note on Elvish Economy