DOI Artikel:
Fenton, Alexander: [Rezension von: Iván Balassa, Az eke és szántás története Magyaroszágon]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48999#0202
192
REVIEWS/BUCHBESPRECHUNGEN
I. BALASSA: Az eke es a szantastorteneteMagyar-
orszdgon (The History of the Plough and
Ploughing in Hungary). Budapest 1973. 630 pp.
German summary 616-624.
Dr Balassa, of the Hungarian Agricultural Mu-
seum, has packed into the pages of this sub-
stantial volume a huge amount of data assembled
through the survey and recording of material in
museum collections and on farms, and the perusal
of written sources and of related literature, in-
cluding linguistics. This in itself is a considerable
feat of digestion and analysis, and though the ma-
terial used relates primarily to Hungary, the
volume is nevertheless a milestone in the study of
cultivating implements. As an investigation in
depth, from the earliest times to the present, of
a well-defined region, the Carpathian basin, it
provides a model that could well be applied else-
where.
He outlines the development of agriculture from
the beginning of crop-growing in the Near East in
the 8th millenium BC. The first representations of
animal-drawn cultivating implements date from the
4th-3rd millenium BC. Though in his own area
there are finds of grain from the 5th millenium,
and the domestication of cattle is evidenced by
models of wheeled vehicles for which they served
as draught from the 3rd millenium, nevertheless
there is no direct evidence for the plough until
the appearance of shares in the Early Iron Age.
The earliest, imitating earlier wooden shares, are
lance- or arrow-shaped; the narrow, socketed share
is linked with the spread of the Celts in Western
and Central Europe, and is found in the Car-
pathian basin from the 3rd century BC. The
shovel-shaped share, and coulter, are probably also
connected with the Celts, and probably date from
the 1st century BC.
The plough, as opposed to the ard, appeared
during the Roman period, lst-5th century AD.
With its wheeled forecarriage, double stilts, coulter,
asymmetrical share, and one-sided mould-board, it
provided a much more efficient means of tilling
grain to meet the demands from the growing
towns. The plough probably came into use in Eng-
land about this same period.
During the 5 centuries that followed, there
seems to have been a decline in agriculture, the
plough being found only in places where large
estates had developed, e. g. in the Kiev area, Mo-
ravia, Prussia, England. The Hungarians them-
selves probably learned their plough cultivation
from the Bulgaro-Turks, who already had a well-
developed cultivation system from the 7th-10th
centuries AD. The author believes that when they
settled in Hungary, from 896, they were a semi-
nomadic people who used a well-developed plough-
form. There is definite evidence for the plough
from the first half of the 13th century, though it
may well be two centuries earlier.
The spread of the plough in the 12th-13th cen-
turies was linked with the two-and-three field
farming system which spread in the 16th-18th
centuries. A one-way (reversible) type of plough
appeared in the mountainous areas of the Carpa-
thians in the 17th, or possible the 16th century.
The ard, of course, remained in use as an alter-
native to, or alongside, the plough, in parts of
the area.
From the mid-17th century, improvements were
constantly being made. An iron sheath was in-
troduced, serving both as a strut and as a means of
adjusting for depth. Coulters and shares were
also adapted. In the early 19th century, farmers
in the Carpathian basin, and ploughwrights in
villages and towns were making plough frames of
wood, though the irons were made by smiths or
in hammer-mills.
Illustrations and surviving implements permit a
clear classification system for symmetrical (ards
and one-way ploughs), and asymmetrical ploughs
to be worked out. AU of the latter are ridge-
ploughs, with wheeled forecarriages. The main
variations lie in the width of the sole, the way of
attaching the stilts to the sole, and the width of
the share.
From the second half of the 18th century,
experiments were being made especially on the
big estates, with plough-types based on English,
Dutch, French and German patterns. In the 19th
century, the best-known foreign ploughs were the
Hohenheimer, Zugmaier, and Ruhadlo, though
ploughs of native manufacture became increasingly
important. In 1850, semi-iron ploughs constituted
only 2-3% of all those in use; continued on p. 185
REVIEWS/BUCHBESPRECHUNGEN
I. BALASSA: Az eke es a szantastorteneteMagyar-
orszdgon (The History of the Plough and
Ploughing in Hungary). Budapest 1973. 630 pp.
German summary 616-624.
Dr Balassa, of the Hungarian Agricultural Mu-
seum, has packed into the pages of this sub-
stantial volume a huge amount of data assembled
through the survey and recording of material in
museum collections and on farms, and the perusal
of written sources and of related literature, in-
cluding linguistics. This in itself is a considerable
feat of digestion and analysis, and though the ma-
terial used relates primarily to Hungary, the
volume is nevertheless a milestone in the study of
cultivating implements. As an investigation in
depth, from the earliest times to the present, of
a well-defined region, the Carpathian basin, it
provides a model that could well be applied else-
where.
He outlines the development of agriculture from
the beginning of crop-growing in the Near East in
the 8th millenium BC. The first representations of
animal-drawn cultivating implements date from the
4th-3rd millenium BC. Though in his own area
there are finds of grain from the 5th millenium,
and the domestication of cattle is evidenced by
models of wheeled vehicles for which they served
as draught from the 3rd millenium, nevertheless
there is no direct evidence for the plough until
the appearance of shares in the Early Iron Age.
The earliest, imitating earlier wooden shares, are
lance- or arrow-shaped; the narrow, socketed share
is linked with the spread of the Celts in Western
and Central Europe, and is found in the Car-
pathian basin from the 3rd century BC. The
shovel-shaped share, and coulter, are probably also
connected with the Celts, and probably date from
the 1st century BC.
The plough, as opposed to the ard, appeared
during the Roman period, lst-5th century AD.
With its wheeled forecarriage, double stilts, coulter,
asymmetrical share, and one-sided mould-board, it
provided a much more efficient means of tilling
grain to meet the demands from the growing
towns. The plough probably came into use in Eng-
land about this same period.
During the 5 centuries that followed, there
seems to have been a decline in agriculture, the
plough being found only in places where large
estates had developed, e. g. in the Kiev area, Mo-
ravia, Prussia, England. The Hungarians them-
selves probably learned their plough cultivation
from the Bulgaro-Turks, who already had a well-
developed cultivation system from the 7th-10th
centuries AD. The author believes that when they
settled in Hungary, from 896, they were a semi-
nomadic people who used a well-developed plough-
form. There is definite evidence for the plough
from the first half of the 13th century, though it
may well be two centuries earlier.
The spread of the plough in the 12th-13th cen-
turies was linked with the two-and-three field
farming system which spread in the 16th-18th
centuries. A one-way (reversible) type of plough
appeared in the mountainous areas of the Carpa-
thians in the 17th, or possible the 16th century.
The ard, of course, remained in use as an alter-
native to, or alongside, the plough, in parts of
the area.
From the mid-17th century, improvements were
constantly being made. An iron sheath was in-
troduced, serving both as a strut and as a means of
adjusting for depth. Coulters and shares were
also adapted. In the early 19th century, farmers
in the Carpathian basin, and ploughwrights in
villages and towns were making plough frames of
wood, though the irons were made by smiths or
in hammer-mills.
Illustrations and surviving implements permit a
clear classification system for symmetrical (ards
and one-way ploughs), and asymmetrical ploughs
to be worked out. AU of the latter are ridge-
ploughs, with wheeled forecarriages. The main
variations lie in the width of the sole, the way of
attaching the stilts to the sole, and the width of
the share.
From the second half of the 18th century,
experiments were being made especially on the
big estates, with plough-types based on English,
Dutch, French and German patterns. In the 19th
century, the best-known foreign ploughs were the
Hohenheimer, Zugmaier, and Ruhadlo, though
ploughs of native manufacture became increasingly
important. In 1850, semi-iron ploughs constituted
only 2-3% of all those in use; continued on p. 185