Page 153 - 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. 153
buckwheat or maize? ultimately, potatoes!
and barley (Garić Petrović 2017, 109–110). At the same time, for a consid-
erable part of the twentieth century, maize remained an important part of
the everyday diet of the Serbian population (unlike the diet in the majori-
ty of Slovenia). Peasants would often sell wheat because of its higher price
and purchase maize for food (Tomasevich 1955, 477). The majority of the
population would eat maize bread daily, and they would also use maize
flour to prepare other cooked and baked dishes. The records – occasionally
even studies of the role of maize in the quality of meat and bacon, or anal-
yses of its nutritional value for human and animal consumption – attest to
the considerable role of maize in the peasant economy. Its influence on the
quality of dairy products and on the taste and colour of eggs, when cattle
and poultry were fed maize, was discussed as well (Nikolić 1931, 41). Such a
role of maize also called for the use of different maize varieties, depending
on its intended use. Varieties intended for maize flour differed from those
meant for animal consumption. The selection of varieties and the creation
of hybrids began very soon. As early as in 1872, Đorđe Radić published a
book that presented maize as a plant, the most sensible means of its pro-
duction, and the initial results of crossing (hybridizing) different varieties
(Radić 1872). Through hybridization, Radić wanted to create different vari-
eties of maize that would best suit different purposes, as well as the Serbian
pedological and climate conditions.
The interwar period
The end of World War I represented a significant turning point for Slovenia.
Most of the Slovenian territory was incorporated into the Yugoslav state. In
the new Yugoslav national economic space, agriculture was adversely af-
fected by a change in relative prices (Bićanić 1973, 11-21). Consequently, the
relative purchasing power of the peasant population decreased. Peasants
represented the largest part of the population, also in Slovenia. Therefore, it
is not surprising that agriculture found itself in a crisis already in the 1920s,
even before the onset of the Great Depression (Lazarević 1994). With regard
to maize, it was significant that Slovenia was integrated into an environment
where the role of maize was much greater, which also determined the mac-
ro relations between the individual crops as well as the price movements on
the internal market. With the establishment of the Yugoslav state, vast ar-
eas of the Pannonian Plain, previously included in the Hungarian half of
the Habsburg Monarchy, became an integral part of the new state. Maize
became the most important crop besides wheat, and Yugoslavia was one of
151
and barley (Garić Petrović 2017, 109–110). At the same time, for a consid-
erable part of the twentieth century, maize remained an important part of
the everyday diet of the Serbian population (unlike the diet in the majori-
ty of Slovenia). Peasants would often sell wheat because of its higher price
and purchase maize for food (Tomasevich 1955, 477). The majority of the
population would eat maize bread daily, and they would also use maize
flour to prepare other cooked and baked dishes. The records – occasionally
even studies of the role of maize in the quality of meat and bacon, or anal-
yses of its nutritional value for human and animal consumption – attest to
the considerable role of maize in the peasant economy. Its influence on the
quality of dairy products and on the taste and colour of eggs, when cattle
and poultry were fed maize, was discussed as well (Nikolić 1931, 41). Such a
role of maize also called for the use of different maize varieties, depending
on its intended use. Varieties intended for maize flour differed from those
meant for animal consumption. The selection of varieties and the creation
of hybrids began very soon. As early as in 1872, Đorđe Radić published a
book that presented maize as a plant, the most sensible means of its pro-
duction, and the initial results of crossing (hybridizing) different varieties
(Radić 1872). Through hybridization, Radić wanted to create different vari-
eties of maize that would best suit different purposes, as well as the Serbian
pedological and climate conditions.
The interwar period
The end of World War I represented a significant turning point for Slovenia.
Most of the Slovenian territory was incorporated into the Yugoslav state. In
the new Yugoslav national economic space, agriculture was adversely af-
fected by a change in relative prices (Bićanić 1973, 11-21). Consequently, the
relative purchasing power of the peasant population decreased. Peasants
represented the largest part of the population, also in Slovenia. Therefore, it
is not surprising that agriculture found itself in a crisis already in the 1920s,
even before the onset of the Great Depression (Lazarević 1994). With regard
to maize, it was significant that Slovenia was integrated into an environment
where the role of maize was much greater, which also determined the mac-
ro relations between the individual crops as well as the price movements on
the internal market. With the establishment of the Yugoslav state, vast ar-
eas of the Pannonian Plain, previously included in the Hungarian half of
the Habsburg Monarchy, became an integral part of the new state. Maize
became the most important crop besides wheat, and Yugoslavia was one of
151
