DOI article:
Gunda, Béla: Observations on the beginning of plant cultivation
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49002#0166
OBSERVATIONS ON THE BEGINNING
OF PLANT CULTIVATION
By
Bela Gunda
Ever since prehistoric times man has pursued
two “experiments”, which extend world-
wide, and are still going on, namely the
domestication of animals, and the cultivation
of plants. In an earlier study I have described
several activities of North American Indians
as belonging to the first steps on the way
towards plant cultivation (Gunda 1968, 20-
26).
This paper draws attention to some perti-
nent cases from Central Europe.
In the Eastern Carpathians the deadly
nightshade or belladonna, Atropa belladon-
na, grows in beech forest, but in recent times
has been declining at an alarming rate from
year to year (Racz-Fiizi 1973:155). It is used
as a remedy and as a specific against witch-
craft, and people have noticed for some time
that it is well on the way to extinction and
cannot be found easily. For this reason bel-
ladonna was introduced to the back-yards,
where it is raised as a semi-cultivated plant.
It is said that this was done towards the end
of the last century in the Hungarian village
of Zagon where some women were carefully
nursing the deadly nightshade in their gar-
den. According to a popular saying referring
to the plant, “everything into the house, no-
thing out of it”, no woman would ever think
of giving it to another one, otherwise it
would lose its magic power (Kovacs 1895,
398). In Haromszek-country Roumanian
women also grow the deadly nightshade in
the garden. They squeeze its leaves and keep
the juice in a bottle in order to give it to
patients who have a cold or suffer from
rheumatism, gout etc. The patient is stunned
by the diluted juice of the plant, and can
eventually even die of it. Hungarian women
often ask Roumanian women to give them
this “medicament” (Kolumban 1903, 107). It
was recorded recently that the Hungarians
of Haromszek-country procure belladonna
from medicine-women or buy it in the mar-
ket. The Catholics of the village Haraly used
to make a pilgrimage of 70-80 km to Csik-
somlyo where belladonna could be bought at
the national festival near the church. They
brought the root home and planted it in the
garden, near the pigsty. Belladonna roots
were also purchased in the neighbouring vil-
lages Sarfalva, Nagypatak (Kakas 1973, 91-
97).
In the region of Kalotaszeg and of
Maramaros, Northern Transylvania, Hunga-
rians and Roumanians take the plant by its
roots out of the soil and plant it in a shel-
tered spot in the flower-garden on the night
of St. George’s Day, 24 April. In the
Maramaros region people used to place
money in the ground where the plant had
been grubbed out. If people wanted to use
the plant for healing purposes or for bring-
ing luck, they treated it nicely, but if they
wanted to use it for bewitching they insulted
it with abusive terms (Koczian 1979, 155-
OF PLANT CULTIVATION
By
Bela Gunda
Ever since prehistoric times man has pursued
two “experiments”, which extend world-
wide, and are still going on, namely the
domestication of animals, and the cultivation
of plants. In an earlier study I have described
several activities of North American Indians
as belonging to the first steps on the way
towards plant cultivation (Gunda 1968, 20-
26).
This paper draws attention to some perti-
nent cases from Central Europe.
In the Eastern Carpathians the deadly
nightshade or belladonna, Atropa belladon-
na, grows in beech forest, but in recent times
has been declining at an alarming rate from
year to year (Racz-Fiizi 1973:155). It is used
as a remedy and as a specific against witch-
craft, and people have noticed for some time
that it is well on the way to extinction and
cannot be found easily. For this reason bel-
ladonna was introduced to the back-yards,
where it is raised as a semi-cultivated plant.
It is said that this was done towards the end
of the last century in the Hungarian village
of Zagon where some women were carefully
nursing the deadly nightshade in their gar-
den. According to a popular saying referring
to the plant, “everything into the house, no-
thing out of it”, no woman would ever think
of giving it to another one, otherwise it
would lose its magic power (Kovacs 1895,
398). In Haromszek-country Roumanian
women also grow the deadly nightshade in
the garden. They squeeze its leaves and keep
the juice in a bottle in order to give it to
patients who have a cold or suffer from
rheumatism, gout etc. The patient is stunned
by the diluted juice of the plant, and can
eventually even die of it. Hungarian women
often ask Roumanian women to give them
this “medicament” (Kolumban 1903, 107). It
was recorded recently that the Hungarians
of Haromszek-country procure belladonna
from medicine-women or buy it in the mar-
ket. The Catholics of the village Haraly used
to make a pilgrimage of 70-80 km to Csik-
somlyo where belladonna could be bought at
the national festival near the church. They
brought the root home and planted it in the
garden, near the pigsty. Belladonna roots
were also purchased in the neighbouring vil-
lages Sarfalva, Nagypatak (Kakas 1973, 91-
97).
In the region of Kalotaszeg and of
Maramaros, Northern Transylvania, Hunga-
rians and Roumanians take the plant by its
roots out of the soil and plant it in a shel-
tered spot in the flower-garden on the night
of St. George’s Day, 24 April. In the
Maramaros region people used to place
money in the ground where the plant had
been grubbed out. If people wanted to use
the plant for healing purposes or for bring-
ing luck, they treated it nicely, but if they
wanted to use it for bewitching they insulted
it with abusive terms (Koczian 1979, 155-