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| Mathis Havel, 1788 Yield Table Source: Trebon Archives |
To better obtain an accounting of the property, all fields were surveyed, "ownership" or control noted, and estimated yields were first provided followed by an actual three year accounting of yields to be used for taxation. In this way, they got to actual yields as they recognized the variability of soils. Soil quality, in other words, would be taken into account. As we all know, production could vary greatly depending upon weather, and the three years may help mitigate weather, but not fully. Our ancestors farmed using both crop rotation, and having a field generally lie fallow every third year. Hence, the production noted in the assessment in the record tells us what was grown, but not the year the crop was grown or the field was fallow.
The property was surveyed by the village headsman and assistants, or by engineers depending upon the difficulty of the parcel. All of Mathias' parcels were measured by the headsman of Micovice and his assistants. Fields, in general were long and narrow, going back to many decades, or centuries earlier when it was thought the most equitable way to divide land was in long narrow parcels. Area of each parcel was recorded in Joch and Square Klafter. Mathias' ten arable parcels contained an equivalent of about 20.16 acres. In addition to the arable parcels he had control of five meadow (for hay) parcels, a house garden parcel (assessed as a meadow), and one woodlot parcel. The grain yield off each parcel was recorded in the presence of the local officials to limit a dishonesty, or taking a shortcut. Thus, we are fortunate to have a record of each of Mathias' parcels in area, estimated yield and actual yield over a three year span. We do not know what crop was grown in what year on what parcel. Of the four main grains, wheat, rye, barley and oats, for which yields were calculated, Mathias grew the last three over that three year period of time. Although, as we will see, his concentration was on rye and oats.
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| Havel House #15, time of Stable Cadastre, ~1836 Source: https://ags.cuzk.cz/archiv/ |
Over the three year time frame, rye and oats were grown on each of his ten fields, with barley in two fields. Therefore, it appears that over the three years, eight of the ten fields were fallow for one year. Calculating from the Metzen volume used in the record to the American bushel, Mathias grew the following total bushels of grain over the three years, which essentially is a total of one year of crop yield on this ten fields for rye and oats and two fields for barley: Rye--200.29 bushels; Barley--23.24 bushels; and Oats--215.97 bushels. Hence, over the three years he grew a total of 439.5 bushels of grain. We see that oats produced a higher return than did rye. Mathias' yield in bushels per acre comes out to 10.13 for rye, 2.99 for barley and 10.71 for oats.
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| Melhutka, German name for Ratiborova Lhota 19th Century base map, provides an idea of the topography by the village Source: Mapycz |
Mathias also had to seed his field, and the record provides that information. As an example, we see that field #649 had represented a sowing rate of 3.75 strich which is equal to about 9.86 bushels to sow 2.69 acres. His represented yield was 2.5 times that amount which would come to 24.65, and indeed I calculate it to be about 24.7, within the rounding of bushels. Yield varied by parcel with generally production being 2 to 3 times the sowing rate recorded. Sow rate for barley is not recorded.
Oats producing more bushels on an area basis than rye occurs today. In Wisconsin, the average for bushels per acre in 2022 for oats was 64.8, compared to 58.0 for rye. Of course, this is in general for the whole state and yields vary. I found a grain yield for oats for Dane Co, but not rye, so I chose to use the whole state. This also shows us how much more grain is produced with modern seeds and fertilizers, all part of the agricultural-industrial complex in which we now see prime farmland turning into solar generating installations. This of course, leads to more fossil fuels to produce the fertilizers used on the less productive fields.
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| Mika, Johann is Mathias' grandson who owned the property at the time of the Stable Cadastre mapping. This is a meadow parcel. https://ags.cuzk.cz/archiv/ |
For Mathias, the sun was welcome to grow crops. The fields of southern Bohemia are known for their lack of prime soil. Of Mathias' ten fields, during the three years, oats production in bushels per acre varied from 9.65 to 12.01. For rye, the variation was from 8.35 to 11.07.
Mathias' ten arable fields ranged in area from .34 to 6.43 acres. His median field size was 1.66 acres. With the fields being narrow and long, there were edges that probably reduced yield more than if the field was a nice square. This makes me wonder if neighboring farmers cooperated and grew the same grain in their adjoining field to avoid loss at an edge. His highest producing field recorded for oats was 1.59 acres in size, slightly smaller than the mean. His highest producing field for rye was 1.35 acres. I think this shows the variability of soils and perhaps even micro-climate. In the hills and valleys of this region south faced slope fields would likely be better than those with a north face. Weather is also variable--rainfall and temperatures. Like what we don't know what was grown on a field, we don't know what the local weather conditions were in Bohemia in the late 1780's.
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| Two farm fields and one meadow under control of Johann Mika https://ags.cuzk.cz/archiv/ |
There is a great deal of information in this document. For example we know that all field calculations were done by local farmers not engineers. This is interesting, as many documents from that time note the farmers and headsman as being illiterate. Someone would have had to keep track of measurements and do the math. Second, of the twenty field estimates for oats and rye, Mathias' yield exceeded the estimates in all but five cases. Two of the four cases were for both oats and rye on his largest field, of at 6.43 acres. This is offset by a few misses. Oats missed his estimate by 30% and rye by even more in a couple of instances. Yet, many fields his estimates were within a few percentage points. He obviously had a history of what was grown on the fields.
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| 1995 Topograpahical Map around Ratiborova Lhota https://ags.cuzk.cz/archiv/ |
Last year in May I provided a post on Mathias' requirements for fees, taxes and grain tithes to the domain as noted in the 1773 Urbarium, which you can read about here. Mathias was required to provide annually to the domain the following: 3.5 bushels of rye, about 2 bushels of barley and just over 5.5 bushels of oats. A good portion of his barley yield was for the domain, which required two bushels per year. I doubt the tithe to the estate varied over the years, as the same grain tithe require in the 1773 Urbarium is in the handover contract when his son Johann took over the farm in 1804. Please bear in mind that we do not know for sure what was grown on what field in what year of the three years of the records.
The specific dates for the yield declarations (Fassion), survey and initial assessments for each parcel is noted in the document, so I can tell, you, as an example, if you care for that much detail, the date of survey and the initial estimates provided. 19 Aug 1785, which was a Friday, was the first day of the survey. All of his parcels had the Fassion delaration, survey and assessment undertaken by Anton Semko, the Richter in Micovice; Adablert Bolech, a juror from #6 Micovice; and his own local community committeemen: Johann Kunesch, Tomas Wintzig and Georg Brom. All work was completed by 25 August, a Wednesday. They did not work on Sunday. It was a small community, with only about 15 homes in Ratiborova Lhota. More detailed mapping, by survey was completed in the 1800's, and took significant time. The survey was for two parts, one to get an exact measurement of all land for taxation, and to have the information pending full serf emancipation, which occurred in 1868. As Empress Maria Theresia, mother of Josef II, said of the estates leaders: "Those gentlemen have known how to arrange things in such a manner that there was no way of seeing them clearly, and the subjects were always under the same oppression." (Wright, p. 34)
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| Signatory page of 1804 Agreement three X's indicate the person was illiterate and name written in. Source: Trebon Archives, Krumlov Estate |
The biggest takeaway for me is how exact they were with their measurements. Mathias was probably illiterate, as we know his sons Frantisek and Johanna and his widow Maria in an 1804 agreement did not sign their names, but used three X's. The document notes they were asked to provide their signature as three crosses, as they were illiterate. The larger question is how did Mathias keep track of everything? Mathias may have been illiterate, but he must have had a good mind to keep track of what was going on for each field. One reason why the survey work was led by the Micovice headman was perhaps he could read and write. That 1804 record also indicates that the Ratiborova Lhota village headsman at the time was also illiterate.
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| Translation of 1804 Handover contract from mother to Johann Havel noting those who were illiterate Translation by Richard D'Amelio |
Mathias had to tend his fields while still providing a significant amount of robot labor to the domain, as by 1778 he was required to provide 169 days of free labor to the estate, an amount his son was required to provide according to the handover contract. A future post will look at Mathias' meadow and woodland parcels. Grain was an important commodity at that time as it is today. What it interesting is that Mathias also had requirements for spun flax and linseed oil, but there is not a record of him growing flax over this three year period. He may have used flax grown on dominical lands. While this record may provide some questions, it does provide a deep dive into the farming practices and and his grain yields of this ten arable fields in a formal governmental record in 1788, or 245 years ago.
Note: calculations from area and bulk units used in the original document to American units of bushels and acres was completed by the author.
Sources:
https://digi.ceskearchivy.cz/345050/72/2651/814/78/0
https://digi.ceskearchivy.cz/345049/2/2651/835/37/0
(Both of the above transcribed and translated by Richard D' Amelio of Bohemib Research Services, engaged by the author.)
https://ags.cuzk.cz/archiv/
Wright, William E. 1966. Serf, Seigneur, and Sovereign: Agrarian Reform in Eighteenth Century Bohemia, University of Minnesota Press.
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