As reported in the Father’s Day post below, the translation of the Halbstadt Gemeindebericht has been completed. All that remains for this village report is to press ahead with commentary and explanation. So without further delay, we move on to the next section of the report.
This steppe was completely free of houses and dwellings of any kind. The soil in the lowland consists of a mixture of peat, loam, and sand; the slightly higher steppe, except for the black earth upper layer from 1 to 1.5 feet deep, only of loam. The growth of grass on the hay steppes was, on average, only mediocre; by contrast, the pasture for horses, cattle, and sheep was strong and nourishing. However, with good preparation and treatment, the soil was particularly suitable for cultivation and bore, in fruitful years, a harvest of ten- to fifteenfold.
this steppe was completely free of houses and dwellings of any kind. Although the word steppe may refer specifically to the prairie expanse above the river bottom, it is also used more broadly to describe the entire area surrounding Halbstadt. The more general meaning is apparently intended here. The point appears to be, as suggested in the comments on the previous paragraph, that the founding of Halbstadt did not dispossess anyone. The land had not been settled prior to the Mennonite settlers (notwithstanding the seminomadic Nogais who traversed the area), so their founding of a village on the steppe harmed no one.
the soil in the lowland consists of a mixture of peat, loam, and sand. Here the distinction between the two types of land surrounding Halbstadt (and other Molotschna villages) comes into sharper focus. The community report distinguishes between the lowland along the Molochna River and the slightly higher steppe proper. The two areas had different types of soil. The lowland along the river contained a mixture of peat (decayed vegetation or organic matter), loam (itself a mixture of roughly 40 percent sand, 40 percent silt, and 20 percent clay), and sand.
Heinrich Goerz explains that the area across the Molochna River to the west of the Mennonite colony
had a characteristic topographical feature, the so-called “colonist hill,” a long high ridge which followed the right bank of the Molochnaia River. However, between the river bank and the ridge was enough room for the German Lutheran villages…. The “colonist hill” was high enough to give the impression of a real mountain range on the otherwise flat steppe. … The left bank of the Molochnaia [i.e., Molotschna colony], in contrast to the right, rose very gently and gradually blended into the vast steppe.
The last sentence is key: on the Mennonite side of the Molochna River the land rose gradually as it stretched out into the prairie steppe.
the slightly higher steppe, except for the black earth upper layer from 1 to 1.5 feet deep, only of loam. In contrast to the lowland soil, the steppe soil contained two distinct layers. The top 12–18 inches consisted of black earth (Russian chernozem). This soil is some of the most fertile on earth. For a full discussion, see the earlier post “The Russian Steppe 6: Black Soil” (here). Beneath this layer of rich black earth was loam.
growth of grass on the hay steppes was … only mediocre. During the first decades of Molotschna’s existence, the agricultural economy was centered around animal husbandry: primarily the raising of sheep and cattle and secondarily horses. It was only after the mid-1830s that the pendulum began to swing decisively toward crop farming. This initial focus on animal husbandry explains the focus on hay and pastures. If I understand correctly, the grass on the elevated steppe was cut and gathered into barns or haystacks, then used to feed the livestock during the winter.
the pasture for horses, cattle, and sheep was strong and nourishing. The pasture areas, by contrast, were generally located in the lusher lowland along the river. The location of the pastures in the lowlands was not, however, due merely to the increased output that they produced; pastures were generally kept closer to the village so that the daily trek from barn to pasture was as short as possible.
For additional detail on the Molotschna settlers’ raising of sheep, cattle, and horses, I recommend consulting David G. Rempel’s 1933 Stanford PhD dissertation, which is now available for anyone to read online (see here). Rempel discusses sheep on pages 123–28, cattle on pages 128–34, and horses on pages 134–37.
with good preparation and treatment, the soil was particularly suitable for cultivation. We cannot be completely certain which soil the report has in view here, but it is probably the soil of the steppe. The report just stated that the growth of grass was mediocre, so it would make sense to qualify this with an explanation of the bountiful harvests for which Molotschna became famous. The explanation, in the words of Helmut T. Huebert, was that “the soil [in Molotschna] was fertile, more suited to growing crops than harvesting hay” (2003, 120). If the steppe soil is in view, then the statement certainly describes the situation after the shift from animal husbandry to grain farming. This comports well with the reference to good preparation and treatment. The community report will later elaborate on what it means by “good preparation and treatment”: the practice of black fallow.
a harvest of ten- to fifteenfold. According to data included by David Rempel (1933, 159–60), the yield claimed by the community report is accurate, although only for the decade before the report was written. Rempel reproduces the crop statistics for a certain Molotschna farmer year by year from 1809 through 1848. This farmer, it is reported, began putting stable manure on his field in the 1820s and then practiced black fallow and a four-crop rotation in the mid-1830s. The table below uses Rempel’s full set of annual data to show broad patterns and developments over this forty-year period.
period | average bushels sown | average bushels reaped | average yield |
| 1809–1818 | 11.4 | 56.7 | 5.0x |
| 1819–1828 | 13.6 | 76.2 | 5.6x |
| 1829–1838 | 10.5 | 102.2 | 9.7x |
| 1838–1848 | 26.5 | 366.0 | 13.8x |
Note first the marked increase in the average bushels this farmer sowed in the last decade of the records; this reflects the shift from animal husbandry to crop farming. Also noteworthy is the sharp increase in yield beginning in 1929 (after manure began to be spread on the field) and especially in the last decade. In fact, in three of the ten years of that period the yield was seventeen times the amount of seed sown. The agricultural practices promoted by Johann Cornies and the Agricultural Society had a decisive effect on crop yields and led to the Molotschna colony’s well-deserved reputation as the bread basket of the Russian Empire.
Works Cited
Huebert, Helmut T. 2003. Mennonite Historical Atlas. Winnipeg: Springfield.
Rempel, David G. 1933. “The Mennonite Colonies in New Russia: A Study of Their Settlement and Economic Development from 1789 to 1914.” PhD diss. Stanford University. Available online here.
