Page 145 - 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. 145
buckwheat or maize? ultimately, potatoes!
Graph 2. Field crops and arable land in Slovenia in 1913 (in %)
Source: Gospodarska in družbena, 1970, 266.
The role and share of maize varied notably between provinces. With
the exception of western Slovenia (Goriška region and Istria), where maize
was a staple crop whose share amounted to nearly one half, it was present
in much more balanced percentages in the other provinces. In the east, the
Slovenian Styria, where maize was sown in approximately 15% of the fields,
exhibited a more diversified structure of crops in the long term. Meanwhile,
in the central part of Slovenia (Carniola), maize did not establish itself to
such a degree. In 1875, the percentage of arable land dedicated to it had
amounted to approximately 12%, but even that diminished to around 9%
by World War I. This decline resulted from the expansion of potatoes. An
interesting trend emerges when the absolute data regarding the surfaces of
individual crops at the level of the Slovenian average is taken into consid-
eration. The growth of absolute surfaces was not only registered in the case
of potatoes, for example in Carniola, but also for wheat and maize. Areas
dedicated to wheat, maize, and potatoes kept increasing throughout the
nineteenth century. Until as late as the end of that century, maize had an
advantage over potatoes. Other cereals, apart from wheat, were in decline.
This was, in part, a confirmation of the process pattern: the more modest
the yield of a crop, the smaller the percentage of surfaces dedicated to it in
the long term. We state this with caution because the high percentage of
buckwheat deviated from this pattern throughout the nineteenth century.
143
Graph 2. Field crops and arable land in Slovenia in 1913 (in %)
Source: Gospodarska in družbena, 1970, 266.
The role and share of maize varied notably between provinces. With
the exception of western Slovenia (Goriška region and Istria), where maize
was a staple crop whose share amounted to nearly one half, it was present
in much more balanced percentages in the other provinces. In the east, the
Slovenian Styria, where maize was sown in approximately 15% of the fields,
exhibited a more diversified structure of crops in the long term. Meanwhile,
in the central part of Slovenia (Carniola), maize did not establish itself to
such a degree. In 1875, the percentage of arable land dedicated to it had
amounted to approximately 12%, but even that diminished to around 9%
by World War I. This decline resulted from the expansion of potatoes. An
interesting trend emerges when the absolute data regarding the surfaces of
individual crops at the level of the Slovenian average is taken into consid-
eration. The growth of absolute surfaces was not only registered in the case
of potatoes, for example in Carniola, but also for wheat and maize. Areas
dedicated to wheat, maize, and potatoes kept increasing throughout the
nineteenth century. Until as late as the end of that century, maize had an
advantage over potatoes. Other cereals, apart from wheat, were in decline.
This was, in part, a confirmation of the process pattern: the more modest
the yield of a crop, the smaller the percentage of surfaces dedicated to it in
the long term. We state this with caution because the high percentage of
buckwheat deviated from this pattern throughout the nineteenth century.
143
