Roumania Past and Present
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Next in importance to Galatz as a port is Ibrail, or Braila, also near
the mouth of the Danube; indeed, according to Consul Sanderson, the
exports of the latter exceed those of the former, whilst Galatz imports
much more largely owing to its nearer proximity to the embouchure and to
the fact that the steamers first touch there. The same writer believes
it probable that some day Ibrail will be a more considerable port than
Galatz, but both are likely to be interfered with by the new port of
Constanta. The other large towns, Craiova, the former capital of Little
Wallachia; Ploiesti, a considerable town, with many picturesque
churches, on the line from Bucarest to Kronstadt, and the junction from
whence the railway branches off to Galatz, &c.; Tirgovistea, a former
capital of Wallachia, not situated on the railway; Pitesti, &c., are all
interesting in their way, but not sufficiently so to detain us, and we
must now direct our attention to other phases of Roumanian progress.
[Illustration: AT THE CABARET ON A HOLIDAY.]
[Footnote 48: Consular Reports, Roumania, 1878, pp. 965-966. This
statement applies, we believe, to what was formerly Moldavia rather than
to Wallachia. When we were in Bucarest we saw stalls in the street at
which English note-paper and writing materials (if they were genuine)
were sold; and one day having occasion to buy a pair of scissors we
entered a shop for the purpose, and some very dear ones were shown to
us. On complaining of the price we were told they were English, but that
we could obtain cheap ones of Austrian manufacture at another shop close
by. This we did, and although the scissors were doubtless inferior, it
shows that English goods are liked and command higher prices.]
[Footnote 49: See Consular Report, Roumania, 1878, pp. 966, 968, where
these statements are practically confirmed.]
[Footnote 50: Purchased by the State whilst these remarks were being
written.]
[Footnote 51: Several authors, copying one another as usual without
enquiry, have estimated the population at 90,000, Aurelian having fixed
it at 90,236 in 1866; but when in 1877 our Vice-Consul Bonham enquired
of the Mayor of Jassy, he was told that, although no satisfactory data
exist, 70,000 was nearer the mark. In like manner the population of
Galatz has been set down until lately at 80,000, although an English
gentleman residing there maintained that it should be about 50,000. That
gentleman told us that according to a recent census there turned out to
be only 40,000, but he questioned that result also, inasmuch as the
people do not know the object of such a proceeding and fear to make
returns, and moreover the census was taken at a time when many labourers
and others had left the city for a season.]
[Footnote 52: Vice-Consul Bonham's report, 1877, p. 720.]
[Footnote 53: Ibid. p. 721.]
CHAPTER VI.
AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL--THE PEASANT PROPRIETARY OF ROUMANIA.
Cultivated acreage of Roumania--Comparative estimates of
agricultural products; waste lands, &c.--Nature of soil--Rotation
of crops--Agricultural implements--Old-fashioned ploughs--Improved
machinery--Yield of cereals--Maize, wheat, rye, barley, &c.--(Note:
Report of M. Jooris)--Uncertainty as to yield per
acre--Estimates--Quality and value of Roumanian cereals--Slovenly
cultivation--Cost of raising cereals--Uncertainty of
estimates--Present position of agriculture--Discouragement of
immigration--Competition of the United States--Cattle--Oxen and
buffaloes--Sheep--Wool--Cheese, butter, &c.--Capabilities of the
soil--Tobacco--Cotton--Agricultural education--The Agricultural and
Sylvicultural College of Ferestreu--M. Aurelian--The grounds and
buildings--External arrangements--Experimental growth of trees,
fruits, cereals, &c.--Number of professors and pupils--Internal
arrangements for board--Cost of education--Laboratory and excellent
collections--History of the plough illustrated by models--'Ecole
des Arts et Metiers'--Manufacture of farm requisites--School of
design--The peasantry--Their history--Varieties of tenure prior to
1864--Creation of a peasant proprietary by forced sales of
land--Success of the reform--Subsequent allotment of state
lands--The 'obligations rurales'--The dark side--Fate of
improvident peasants--Forced to sell their
labour--Quasi-servitude--The boyards or landed gentry--Improvidence
and involved condition of many--Pledged
estates--'Fermage'--Purchase of their lands by industrious peasants
and others--Decline of the boyards--Excellent qualities of the
peasantry--Great endurance--Industry of women--Education in
progress--Bright future for the peasantry--Importance of their
prosperity to the State--(Note: Comparative numbers of agricultural
and other classes).
I.
The area of Roumania, as already stated elsewhere, is about 49,252
square miles, and estimates have been made of the cultivated and
uncultivated acreage, which approximate sufficiently to give us a fair
idea of the agricultural condition of the country. According to those
estimates, which were probably made at the period (1864) when the
peasant proprietary was created, about one-fifth is employed for the
growth of cereals, garden products, and vines; rather under one-third
is pasturage and hay; one-sixth forest; and the remaining
nine-thirtieths, or nearly a third of the whole, still remains
uncultivated.[54]
[Illustration: ROUMANIAN PLOUGHSHARE.]
The soil of the country is rarely less than three to four feet in depth,
is easily turned, and, as already stated, it is usually a dark
argillo-siliceous earth, which is so greatly charged with humus
(decaying organic matter) that manure is rarely found necessary. The
rotation of crops is largely practised, usually maize, wheat, then
fallow; but very poor soil, capable of producing only rye, is often
allowed to lie fallow for many years together. Much of the cultivation
is performed with very primitive implements, the ordinary old-fashioned
plough being furnished with a share resembling the broad flattened
lance-head of a harpoon, which penetrates the earth horizontally. Of
late years, however, a constantly increasing number of improved ploughs,
reaping, mowing, and steam threshing machines have come into use. In
1873, according to Consul Vivian's report, there were about 185,000
native ploughs against about 38,000 imported ones; but even then already
there were nearly three times as many steam as there were horse
threshing machines in use, and since that time the employment of all
kinds of improved machinery has been greatly on the increase, and
several large English and American implement makers have agencies in
Roumania.[55] There is little doubt that in the course of a few years
the old-fashioned agricultural implements will disappear altogether; for
the configuration of the surface, which in the plains somewhat resembles
the rolling prairie of the far West, is peculiarly adapted for the use
of modern machinery of every description.
The agricultural industry of the country may be said at present to be
practically confined to the growth of cereals, especially maize, barley,
and wheat, and the rearing of sheep and cattle. The total yield of
cereals of all kinds has been roughly estimated at 15,000,000 quarters,
which is but a very small part of what might be produced; and when we
seek for information concerning the proportions of the different species
of grain, we find nothing but statistics long out of date, and at
variance with each other. The probable proportions are, however (subject
to annual variations), one-half maize, one-third wheat, and the
remaining sixth barley, rye, and millet, whereof the last named is
increasing rapidly.[56] As to the yield per acre, although we have
gathered together all the information that could be obtained, we find it
impossible to fix anything definite; nor is this to be wondered at if we
look at the great differences which exist even in the United States of
America, where the people are ravenous for statistics. On some farms in
Roumania the yield is as low as eight bushels per acre, and if it were
not that the peasants own the soil and perform their own labour, it
would not pay for cultivation; but, on the other hand, we hear of very
large yields on good farms, and notwithstanding these remarks, which
might lead to the opposite conclusion, we are told on good authority
that since the creation of the peasant proprietary the average yield per
acre has considerably increased.
(Although it is impossible to fix anything like a definite yield,
the following figures may serve as a basis of calculation, and they
will at least allow how material has been the general increase in
the production of cereals:--In 1869-70, Vivian gives the yield
(which exceeds that of following years) as 31,264,953 hectolitres.
In 1881 M. Jooris gives it as 45,000,000 hectolitres (one
hectolitre = 2.75 bushels). Taking M. Jooris's estimate as 15-1/2
million quarters and the quantity of land under cultivation _for
cereals_ only as 6,000,000 acres, this would make the average yield
of _all_ cereals a little over twenty bushels per acre; and,
looking at the very large preponderance of maize, barley, oats, and
rye over wheat, that does not appear to be an unreasonable
estimate. Beyond this we shall not venture to go, and if the reader
desires to prosecute the enquiry further he will find ample
materials in the consular reports, the works of various writers on
Roumania, and a series of letters which appeared in the 'Times'
last year from the pen of their Bucarest correspondent; but we must
give him the very judicious and needful counsel which we ourselves
received from a leading statesman of the country who favoured us
with statistics: 'Il faut controler'--check everything.)
Owing to the rough and ready system of cultivation in Roumania, the
maize, which needs no special care, is far better and more highly prized
in this country than the wheat. The latter is worth, on the average,
5_s._ per quarter less than Western States spring wheat, and this is
owing largely to the dirty condition of the seed-wheat used in Roumania;
whilst, on the other hand, the maize is quite equal in quality and value
to American mixed.
If it be difficult to calculate the yield per acre, it is impossible to
give a trustworthy estimate of the cost of raising the various cereals.
Attempts have been made to do so, and so far as they go they are no
doubt accurate. For example, in an article on 'Farming in Roumania,'
which appeared in the 'Times' of July 14, 1881, from the pen of its able
correspondent, there are estimates of the cost of raising and carrying
to market wheat, barley, oats, maize, &c.; but when we state that the
yield of wheat is put down at 18.8 bushels, maize at 22.6 bushels, and
barley at 37.7 bushels per acre, it will be seen by anyone acquainted
with the agriculture of the country that this cannot be used to estimate
the average cost per quarter. However, as it stands, the calculation of
the total cost per _acre_ is as follows:--Wheat, 66.35 francs, or (at
25.10 per 1_l._) 52_s._ 10_d._; barley, 59.70 francs, or 47_s._ 7_d._;
oats, 55.09 francs, or 44_s._ 4_d._; maize, 59.29 francs, or 47_s._
2_d._; and the farmer, who is a large landed proprietor and employs
labour, had evidently devoted more attention to the production of wheat
than to maize, which is not usually the case. We obtained several
estimates whilst in the country, but they differed so widely that it
would not have been fair to strike an average, and all that can be
safely said on the subject is that the conditions of cultivation are
such as to point to constantly increasing production at a diminished
cost per quarter for some time to come, inasmuch as the introduction of
improved machinery will more than compensate for the gradual application
of manure to the soil. There are, however, many obstacles to progress.
For political reasons the Government discourages immigration from other
countries, and therefore the untilled lands will have to be idle until
there is a sufficiently large population to cultivate them. The
Roumanian peasant is very conservative and slow to move, but improved
communication, modern implements, the encouragement given to
agricultural training, and last, but not least, the competition of the
Western States of America, cannot fail to act as impulses to spur him on
to increased exertions.
Next in importance to the growth of cereals comes the rearing of sheep
and cattle; but this is of consequence to the country itself rather than
to Western nations, as the export is comparatively small. The number of
cattle bred in the country does not appear to increase materially.[57]
There are three varieties of oxen, and one peculiar kind of buffalo, of
which there appear to be about one hundred thousand in the country. The
buffaloes are very dark, almost black, with horns lying back upon the
animal's neck, but in other respects they are hardly distinguishable
from ordinary horned cattle. The value of cattle naturally varies in
different parts; oxen are worth from 3_l._ to 10_l._ each, according to
their size and capacity for draught, the greater part of the field
labour being performed by those animals or by buffaloes. Sheep, goats,
and pigs are also reared in large quantities. The wool of the
first-named is used for spinning and weaving, and sheepskins with the
wool left on are worn as winter garments. Cheese is also manufactured
from sheep's milk, and a curious custom in Roumania is to make the
cheese in the form of a long thin cylinder, wrapping bark tightly round
it in the manufacture. From this slices are cut, bark and all, and
served to the guest; this gives the cheese a slight, but not
disagreeable, flavour of bark. Of cheese, wool, butter, and lard,
considerable quantities are exported annually to Transylvania, Bulgaria,
and Turkey.[58] So far as England is concerned, the only other products
besides cereals, which we receive, are small quantities of linseed and
rapeseed; but Roumania produces millet, which is coming into increased
consumption, rye, beans, beetroot, which is converted into sugar in two
existing factories, flax, hemp, and, as we have already said, vines and
every kind of fruit and garden produce. Her soil is capable of growing,
and formerly did produce, very good tobacco; but in this matter she has
shared the fate of Ireland, for the necessity of levying a tax on the
article led to the suppression of its growth in the country; and,
lastly, we were assured by able agriculturists that there is no reason
why there should not also be raised in Roumania a plant which, of all
others, ministers most largely to the comfort of man and the prosperity
of the land of its production, namely, cotton.
[Footnote 54: If the reader refers to various works on the subject,
Aurelian, Obedenare, Consul Vivian's report, &c., he will find what
appear to be distinct though approximate estimates, but they are really
one and the same, in hectares (2.47 acres), pogones (1-1/4 acres), and
acres; and in none of them is the territorial change of 1878 considered.
We received a set of statistics on the subject as relating to 1880,
whilst at Bucarest, but on comparing them with Aurelian's work published
in 1866 we found the same figures there. The following is the
approximate proportion of cultivated land in pogones (1-1/4 acre):--
Cereals, gardens, vines 4,945,708
Pasture and hay 7,693,910
Forests 4,029,947
Uncultivated 7,574,336
__________
Total 25,243,901
]
[Footnote 55: Any of our readers who desire detailed information
concerning the condition of Roumanian agriculture and manufactures will
find it in a report which was furnished to his government last year by
M.J. Jooris, the Belgian Minister at Bucarest. No doubt the Belgian
Government, has published it in pamphlet form; if not it will be found
_in extenso_ in _La Bourse_, Bucarest, July 27, August 2, 9, and 23,
1881.]
[Footnote 56: See Vivian's report, 1875, Obedenare's table (p. 99), and
M. Jooris's report. The last named gives the ratio as--maize 22, wheat
15, barley 7, rye and oats 1.]
[Footnote 57: The _Gotha Almanack_ of 1882 (p. 904), which receives its
information from official sources, gives the exports of cereals and
cattle in 1880 in the proportion of 167 to 12; whilst the _Times_
correspondent (_loc. cit._) gives the proportions for 1872 respectively
as 117 (cereals) against (animals) 19. Obedenare (p. 147) gives the
number of horned cattle in 1860 as 2,751,168 as against 1,886,990 in
1873, a great falling off; but the _Times_ correspondent says there are
now 3,000,000 head in the country.]
[Footnote 58: In 1875 we imported a considerable quantity of wool from
Roumania, but for the last few years the imports are returned as _nil_.
For further details on all these matters the reader is referred to
Aurelian, _Notices_ (chap. v.), Obedenare (chap. v.), British Consular
Reports, Report of M. Jooris, _Times_ correspondence. The figures would
not sufficiently interest our readers to justify their insertion here.]
II.
No doubt the recent appointment of a Minister of Agriculture in Roumania
will impart a considerable stimulus to the most important branch of
national industry, but that is a question of the future. At present the
only important aids to progress are the agricultural schools; for
although there are small autumnal shows of grain and farm products,
there has been only one agricultural exhibition, and that, we believe,
was far from being a success. Committees are, however, formed in fifteen
different districts on a somewhat similar basis to those of our science
and art classes, to provide instruction in farming, and the
fountain-head and centre of those is now the Agricultural and
Sylvicultural College at Ferestreu, about two miles from Bucarest. This
institution is well worth a visit, and the stranger is sure of a cordial
reception from the director, M. Aurelian, to whose published works we
have already made frequent reference. The work is carried on in a
handsome building, which stands in extensive grounds not far from the
termination of the Chaussee, or promenade, mentioned in our description
of Bucarest, and the arrangements and appliances are admirable.
First as to the grounds. These are divided into sections, in which
experiments are proceeding in the growth of every tree or plant which
the Roumanian soil is capable, or is believed to be capable, of
supporting. Besides extensive plots for all kinds of cereals there are
small beds and plantations for named plants, flowers, and vegetables.
Considerable space is devoted to vine-culture, where, besides many other
kinds, we found Californian grapes flourishing; and in addition there
are numerous orchards and collections of fruit trees, the variety of
which testifies to the richness and productiveness of the soil. Apiaries
are not wanting, but no cattle is reared on the grounds.
In the building instruction is given to about 120 pupils living on the
premises, of whom one half devote their time to the study of practical
farming, and the other to the manufacture of implements, for which
there are workshops (_ateliers_) close at hand. There are ten teachers,
of whom six rank as professors. The pupils are nearly all peasants and
_bourgeois_; instruction is gratuitous, and the cost to the State is
about 450 francs per head annually. The admission is by competitive
examination, and for twenty vacancies in the agricultural section there
were last year sixty applicants, whilst in the mechanical school the
number of applications is still greater.
The arrangements for tuition in the interior of the building are quite
on a par with the external ones. There are collections of dried plants,
seeds, sections of wood, &c., and a smaller collection of geological and
zoological examples. In one place the history of the plough is
illustrated by means of models, beginning with the Egyptian, 2000 years
B.C., and going through a long succession; the Greek, 490
B.C., the Roman, the Gallic, the Chinese, the Siamese, the
primitive Roumanian (already noticed), with many others of ancient or
mediaeval times, and ending with a great variety of improved modern
construction. Models of fruits, various products of hemp, and other
vegetable fibres and tissues, and many other objects of interest to tho
agriculturist, are to be found there. The laboratory is good, and the
instruction imparted is of a useful and practical kind. In the 'Ecole
des Arts et Metiers,' the neighbouring workshops, everything is taught
that is requisite for conducting the mechanical part of farm labour.
Implements, wine and cheese presses, maize-separating machines, carts,
and even tables and chairs for the homestead are made by the students
with the aid of excellent machinery. Nor is theoretical training
neglected. Besides being instructed in chemistry, plans and elevations
of stables, granaries, cottages, &c., have to be drawn by the students,
and their work is very ably executed. In fact the parent institution and
its branches are exercising a most important influence on the
agriculture of the country, and no one who has visited the college of
Ferestreu will for a moment feel any doubt as to the great future in
store for Roumania. The only matter of regret is that the funds of the
institution do not fully suffice to meet its requirements; but it is to
be hoped that these will be more liberally supplied than they have been
hitherto by wealthy members of the community, such as the larger landed
proprietors, and that dependence will not have to be placed on State aid
alone. It is through the medium of these institutions that the peasant
will have to acquire such instruction in improved agricultural methods
as shall cause him to discard his old-fashioned notions, and enable him
to secure an adequate return for his labour.
III.
When we come to consider the past history of Roumania, we shall find
that in the earlier periods the peasants were first independent tillers
of the soil; that later on they were enslaved by the boyards, or sold
themselves and their families to secure sustenance; that they were
nominally emancipated from the ownership of the native boyards, only to
be transferred as _scutelnici_ to officials and other favoured nobles;
and that eventually a democratic government and the increasing power of
the people secured for them not only actual liberty but a real ownership
of the soil which they had for centuries tilled for landlords who lived
in idleness.
It will be interesting, especially during the present attempted land
reforms in Great Britain and Ireland, to state here what has occurred in
Roumania during the last few years, and to consider what further changes
are likely to result from the conversion there of a large portion of the
soil into peasant holdings. Previous to the year 1864 there were three
kinds of tenure in Roumania in which the peasantry were interested. The
soil of the country was practically divided between the boyards and the
State, the former holding by far the larger share. The peasants owned a
small patch of land contiguous to their huts or hovels (many of which
are, as we have already stated, to this day semi-subterranean), and so
much was their undoubted property. But they cultivated the soil on three
different conditions or principles. In Moldavia the boyard allotted a
certain portion of the estate to his peasants for cultivation for their
own use, and in return the latter rendered stipulated services to their
landlord. In Wallachia a portion of the fruits of the soil was given to
the boyard for the right to cultivate a definite quantity of land; and
in the neighbourhood of Bucarest a kind of mixed system prevailed. In
1864, however, the Government practically said to the boyards, 'The
peasantry have been deprived of their right to the soil, but you, having
inherited it, have also a vested interest in it, and your respective
ownerships must now be equitably adjusted.' The peasantry were therefore
put in possession of about one-third of the landed estates at prices,
fixed by the Government, to be paid to the landlords. Those prices were
not always equitable. Table-land which was cultivable was assessed at
the same value as hill-country to the disadvantage of the former.
However, such as it was, the arrangement was carried out. The peasants
of course had no money; therefore the Government paid the boyards,
taking the titles of the land in pledge, and the peasants were bound to
repay the amount to the State in annual instalments. The Government in
turn created a loan, the 'Obligations Rurales,' which were to have been
paid off in 1880, but they were not quite extinguished a year after they
should have been, and a portion of the remaining debt was converted into
a new loan which will expire in 1924. It was, however, only a small
proportion of the original debt, and this fact speaks volumes for the
industry of the peasants.[59] The change did not, however, end there.
About five or six years since _State_ lands were allotted to about
50,000 of the peasants who were too young in 1864 to profit by the
emancipation; and this was done on still more favourable terms, the land
being sold at the old prices of 1864, although it had risen greatly in
value, and the purchase-money repayable in fifteen years. Now, to all
intents and purposes, every peasant is the proprietor of his holding,
and one of the wisest things done by the Roumanian Government was to
pass an act before the expiration of the 'obligations rurales,' which
prevented the alienation of their holdings by the peasantry for a period
of thirty years; otherwise a portion of the land would have fallen to
usurers and harpies who were speculating on being able to secure it when
it came into possession of the nominal proprietor, by advancing loans
upon it, as they do upon that of the improvident landlords.