Page 122 - Mocarelli, Luca, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2020. Maize to the People! Cultivation, Consumption and Trade in the North-Eastern Mediterranean (Sixteenth-Nineteenth Century). Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 122
maize to the people!
Turkish wheat, whereas in Central and Lower Carinthia buckwheat, grain
and wheat are paid as a tithe.” (AT-KLA, 118-Rosenberg, Table 3). The peri-
od of the Napoleonic Wars initially delayed its further expansion. But the
longer the armed conflict lasted, the greater the efforts made by politicians
to improve self-sufficiency in agriculture due to the food shortage with the
introduction of new, more productive crops. This also included the pota-
to, which the people were still very reluctant to consume, and above all
the expansion of maize cultivation. Johann Burger was the biggest advo-
cate of the latter, because he saw maize as a more productive grain than the
conventional ones. In 1804, he began extensive experiments with maize,
which he was the first to sow in rows with the seeder. As a result of his
multi-year trials, a comprehensive study (Vollständige Abhandlung über die
Naturgeschichte, Cultur und Benützung des Mais oder türkischen Weitzens)
emerged in 1809. Burger, who dealt with maize until the end of his life, be-
lieved that the “common peasant”, even “if he is still as stupid and lagging far
behind every other culture, as he is in Carinthia [...], would make a difficult
decision to introduce new field systems and crop rotation; but it is wonder-
ful how quickly the maize spreads. It is impossible to determine how many
yokes are being planted with maize each year” (Burger 1809, 77). In the year
of his death, 1842, a follow-up essay appeared in the Carinthia newspaper
(Burger 1842, 4-6). In it, the Carinthian agricultural economist is surprised
to find that the maize spread “along the entire length of the Drava River to
Lienz”. It was also grown in the Möll Valley (Mölltal). In Winklern, sever-
al peasants had started to cultivate it between 1780 and 1790. Between St.
Veit an der Glan and Klagenfurt you could see the “most beautiful maize
fields, the range of which increases every year” (Burger 1842, 6). However, it
was not so easy to make maize known to the rural population as a crop and
food. Burger describes in detail the problems associated with the introduc-
tion of maize at the beginning of the nineteenth century: “There was a time
when aversion to maize was particularly strong in […] Carinthia […] But
they were able to overcome this prejudice.” (Burger 1809, 73).
Maize becomes an integral part of agriculture and food
When Burger died, maize was already firmly anchored in people’s minds as
food. External constraints, the food shortage in the era of the Napoleonic
Wars, and the poor harvests in the “year without summer” after the erup-
tion of Mount Tambora (Indonesia, 1815) forced peasants to grow these new
high-yielding crops after the failure in the buckwheat harvest. A virtue
120
Turkish wheat, whereas in Central and Lower Carinthia buckwheat, grain
and wheat are paid as a tithe.” (AT-KLA, 118-Rosenberg, Table 3). The peri-
od of the Napoleonic Wars initially delayed its further expansion. But the
longer the armed conflict lasted, the greater the efforts made by politicians
to improve self-sufficiency in agriculture due to the food shortage with the
introduction of new, more productive crops. This also included the pota-
to, which the people were still very reluctant to consume, and above all
the expansion of maize cultivation. Johann Burger was the biggest advo-
cate of the latter, because he saw maize as a more productive grain than the
conventional ones. In 1804, he began extensive experiments with maize,
which he was the first to sow in rows with the seeder. As a result of his
multi-year trials, a comprehensive study (Vollständige Abhandlung über die
Naturgeschichte, Cultur und Benützung des Mais oder türkischen Weitzens)
emerged in 1809. Burger, who dealt with maize until the end of his life, be-
lieved that the “common peasant”, even “if he is still as stupid and lagging far
behind every other culture, as he is in Carinthia [...], would make a difficult
decision to introduce new field systems and crop rotation; but it is wonder-
ful how quickly the maize spreads. It is impossible to determine how many
yokes are being planted with maize each year” (Burger 1809, 77). In the year
of his death, 1842, a follow-up essay appeared in the Carinthia newspaper
(Burger 1842, 4-6). In it, the Carinthian agricultural economist is surprised
to find that the maize spread “along the entire length of the Drava River to
Lienz”. It was also grown in the Möll Valley (Mölltal). In Winklern, sever-
al peasants had started to cultivate it between 1780 and 1790. Between St.
Veit an der Glan and Klagenfurt you could see the “most beautiful maize
fields, the range of which increases every year” (Burger 1842, 6). However, it
was not so easy to make maize known to the rural population as a crop and
food. Burger describes in detail the problems associated with the introduc-
tion of maize at the beginning of the nineteenth century: “There was a time
when aversion to maize was particularly strong in […] Carinthia […] But
they were able to overcome this prejudice.” (Burger 1809, 73).
Maize becomes an integral part of agriculture and food
When Burger died, maize was already firmly anchored in people’s minds as
food. External constraints, the food shortage in the era of the Napoleonic
Wars, and the poor harvests in the “year without summer” after the erup-
tion of Mount Tambora (Indonesia, 1815) forced peasants to grow these new
high-yielding crops after the failure in the buckwheat harvest. A virtue
120
