Page 150 - 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. 150
maize to the people!
every twenty years reveals that the relation was quite stable. In the first half
of the nineteenth century, the relative price of maize came the closest ever
to that of wheat, amounting to approximately three quarters of the price
of wheat. In the time up to World War I, the difference in prices increased
and the relative price of maize settled at approximately two thirds of the
wheat price. It is interesting that in the last decade of the eighteenth centu-
ry, when the maize trade had only just begun in Ljubljana, the price relation
was almost identical to that of shortly before World War I. These trends are
also interesting in comparison with other cereals. With the exception of
rye, whose relative price matched that of maize throughout the nineteenth
century, other cereals (barley, oats, buckwheat, and millet) were relatively
cheaper until the end of that century, when the relative price of maize di-
minished considerably in comparison with other cereals. This relative de-
crease in maize prices resulted from the increased supply, the slight expan-
sion trend of the surfaces dedicated to maize, and the significantly higher
yield per hectare.
The prevalence of maize in Serbia
The example of Serbia, which had a tradition entirely unlike Slovenia, will
serve to illustrate a different role of maize. Naturally, maize was the funda-
mental driving force of field crop changes during the nineteenth century in
Serbia, too. There, maize established itself much earlier than in Slovenia –
already at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1722, as much as 31%
of fields were dedicated to maize (Stoianovich 1966, 1028). In the next cen-
tury this process advanced considerably; in the agricultural structure of
1846, the percentage of maize amounted to as much as 55%. In the follow-
ing two decades, it then settled at approximately 45% and persisted at this
level until as late as World War I (Sundhaussen 1989, 246). As the charts
demonstrate (Graph 2), only two Slovenian regions – the two western prov-
inces near the border with Italy – boasted such a high percentage, namely
49.7% and 33.1% in 1875, and only in the second half of the nineteenth cen-
tury. However, they did not contribute much to the Slovenian average. The
relations between the individual crops, explaining the long-term trends of
the position of maize and its broader role in the Serbian peasant economy,
are indicated in Graph 7.
In Serbia, the absolute numbers referring to the surfaces dedicated to
maize kept increasing throughout the nineteenth century. This, however,
was not due to the creation of new fields, but in fact reflected the process of
148
every twenty years reveals that the relation was quite stable. In the first half
of the nineteenth century, the relative price of maize came the closest ever
to that of wheat, amounting to approximately three quarters of the price
of wheat. In the time up to World War I, the difference in prices increased
and the relative price of maize settled at approximately two thirds of the
wheat price. It is interesting that in the last decade of the eighteenth centu-
ry, when the maize trade had only just begun in Ljubljana, the price relation
was almost identical to that of shortly before World War I. These trends are
also interesting in comparison with other cereals. With the exception of
rye, whose relative price matched that of maize throughout the nineteenth
century, other cereals (barley, oats, buckwheat, and millet) were relatively
cheaper until the end of that century, when the relative price of maize di-
minished considerably in comparison with other cereals. This relative de-
crease in maize prices resulted from the increased supply, the slight expan-
sion trend of the surfaces dedicated to maize, and the significantly higher
yield per hectare.
The prevalence of maize in Serbia
The example of Serbia, which had a tradition entirely unlike Slovenia, will
serve to illustrate a different role of maize. Naturally, maize was the funda-
mental driving force of field crop changes during the nineteenth century in
Serbia, too. There, maize established itself much earlier than in Slovenia –
already at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1722, as much as 31%
of fields were dedicated to maize (Stoianovich 1966, 1028). In the next cen-
tury this process advanced considerably; in the agricultural structure of
1846, the percentage of maize amounted to as much as 55%. In the follow-
ing two decades, it then settled at approximately 45% and persisted at this
level until as late as World War I (Sundhaussen 1989, 246). As the charts
demonstrate (Graph 2), only two Slovenian regions – the two western prov-
inces near the border with Italy – boasted such a high percentage, namely
49.7% and 33.1% in 1875, and only in the second half of the nineteenth cen-
tury. However, they did not contribute much to the Slovenian average. The
relations between the individual crops, explaining the long-term trends of
the position of maize and its broader role in the Serbian peasant economy,
are indicated in Graph 7.
In Serbia, the absolute numbers referring to the surfaces dedicated to
maize kept increasing throughout the nineteenth century. This, however,
was not due to the creation of new fields, but in fact reflected the process of
148
