Thus far in our series on the physical context in which our Mennonite ancestors settled in the mid-nineteenth century, the Molotschna colony in the Azov Uplands, we have examined the characteristic vegetation of the steppe land (feather grass, not forest) and the dominant climate patterns of the area (moderate temperatures and limited precipitation). One final element of the environment remains to be discussed before we turn our attention to several challenges that the Mennonite pioneers faced: the soil in which they planted their crops.
 |
| Black-soil steppe with white “feathers” of Stipa pennata. Photograph by Olga N. Demina (Fedotova 2010, 277). |
The soil of the Eurasian steppe is not uniform across, ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms color, composition, and fertility. The soil that interests us is typically designated black earth, in Russian, chernozem. This soil type is characterized by its color (chern is the Russian word meaning black) and its organic content. With regard to the latter, Anastasia A. Fedotova writes that “the soils of the meadow steppes contain more humus than any other soils in the world – up to 12–15%” (Fedotova 2010, 293 n. 99).
Already in the early nineteenth century the soil was known for its fertility, and by mid-century “legends of the fabled fertility of the chernozem and the ease of cultivating it were widespread. … Professor Nikifor D. Borisyak, a researcher of the geological formations of southern Russia, … asserted [in 1852] that ‘chernozem … without any fertilisation, with very little labour, gives grain yields of 1:15 or 1:20’” (Fedotova 2010, 272). Borisyak’s bold claim was, unfortunately, not remotely accurate; five years later the Russian Department of Agriculture of the Ministry of State Domains calculated “grain yields … in various regions of the chernozem zone at between 1:4 and 1:8.” (Fedotova 2010, 272). In fact, the average was probably in the 1:4 to 1:6 range (see Moon 1999, 134). That being said, “yields of 1:10 or higher were obtained on virgin soil throughout Russia” (135, emphasis added). Of course, each new village in Molotschna was founded on virgin soil, including Waldheim, where Benjamin Buller and family settled in the late 1830s.
As already hinted, the black earth area corresponded largely to the Eurasian steppe, as shown in the mid-nineteenth-century map below (from Fedotova 2010, 282). As usual, the red arrow points to the area of Molotschna.
Not surprisingly, not all the black soil was the same. The humus content did vary, and the depth of the topsoil could be as little as several inches to as much as 5 feet. The soil in Molotschna colony, which was technically in the southern black-soils subzone, was 4–6 percent humus (thus on the lower end of the black-soils spectrum) and approximately a foot in depth. John R. Staples concludes that, “while [the Azov Uplands soils] are not as rich as the soils of the central Ukrainian steppe, they are very fertile. The lowlands [to the south] have much less fertile chestnut topsoils, twenty centimetres [8 inches] in depth, with humus ranging from 3 per cent in the north to 0.5 per cent in the highly alkaline areas immediately bordering the Sea of Azov” (Staples 2003, 6).
Already in the early nineteenth century the soil was known for its fertility, and by mid-century “legends of the fabled fertility of the chernozem and the ease of cultivating it were widespread. … Professor Nikifor D. Borisyak, a researcher of the geological formations of southern Russia, … asserted [in 1852] that ‘chernozem … without any fertilisation, with very little labour, gives grain yields of 1:15 or 1:20’” (Fedotova 2010, 272). Borisyak’s bold claim was, unfortunately, not remotely accurate; five years later the Russian Department of Agriculture of the Ministry of State Domains calculated “grain yields … in various regions of the chernozem zone at between 1:4 and 1:8.” (Fedotova 2010, 272). In fact, the average was probably in the 1:4 to 1:6 range (see Moon 1999, 134). That being said, “yields of 1:10 or higher were obtained on virgin soil throughout Russia” (135, emphasis added). Of course, each new village in Molotschna was founded on virgin soil, including Waldheim, where Benjamin Buller and family settled in the late 1830s.
As already hinted, the black earth area corresponded largely to the Eurasian steppe, as shown in the mid-nineteenth-century map below (from Fedotova 2010, 282). As usual, the red arrow points to the area of Molotschna.
Not surprisingly, not all the black soil was the same. The humus content did vary, and the depth of the topsoil could be as little as several inches to as much as 5 feet. The soil in Molotschna colony, which was technically in the southern black-soils subzone, was 4–6 percent humus (thus on the lower end of the black-soils spectrum) and approximately a foot in depth. John R. Staples concludes that, “while [the Azov Uplands soils] are not as rich as the soils of the central Ukrainian steppe, they are very fertile. The lowlands [to the south] have much less fertile chestnut topsoils, twenty centimetres [8 inches] in depth, with humus ranging from 3 per cent in the north to 0.5 per cent in the highly alkaline areas immediately bordering the Sea of Azov” (Staples 2003, 6).
One final observation that must be made. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are two regions in the world with chernozem, or black soil: “mainly in the middle latitude steppes of Eurasia and North America” (FAO). More precisely, the middle latitude steppes of North America are what we call the Great Plains, the prairies from Manitoba in the north down across the Dakotas and Nebraska and even into Kansas on the south. The significance of this for our family history should be obvious.
What is the significance of all of this information for our family and other Mennonites of that time and place? At least four important implications come to mind.
1. The steppe land of New Russia, as well as of the rest of Eurasia, enjoyed a unrealistically favorable reputation for fertility. The land was fertile, to be sure, but the legend had outstripped the reality, or so it seems. Thus when the earliest Mennonites and even Benjamin Buller emigrated to Molotschna, their expectations may have been higher than was warranted. One might even suspect that their decision to emigrate was fueled by those unrealistic expectations.
2. Further, even if they enjoyed bumper harvests during the initial years (the 1:10 yield), the richness of the soil was depleted over time, and their yields probably fell to 1:6 or 1:4—even lower, when a weather pattern resulted in poor growing conditions. The fact that the Molotschna colony actually thrived for so long is a testament both to their will and their ingenuity in meeting each new challenge.
3. The moderate climate and black earth established the general potential of the area, but it in no way guaranteed success from year to year. As we will learn in subsequent posts, drought was a frequent experience for the farmers of the steppe, as were dust storms and even locusts. Molotschna was not a garden of Eden, and our ancestors did not enjoy endless bounty.
4. Finally, it is no accident that in the 1870s, when a third of Molotschna’s Mennonites decided to leave, many settled in the only other black-earth steppe in the world, whether in the Canadian prairies of Manitoba or the Great Plains of the central United States.* As we have remarked several times, although Peter D and family traveled thousands of miles to central Nebraska, their new life no doubt seemed in many ways familiar, perhaps even less of a shock than when Peter’s grandfather Benjamin moved only hundreds of miles from the Vistula River to modern-day Ukraine.
Note
* Not surprisingly, David Moon, whose 2013 book The Plough That Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia’s Grasslands, 1700–1914, has informed much of this blog series, is currently engaged in a research project titled “The Amerikan Steppes: Russian Influences on the Great Plains.” According to the project website (here), “This project analyzes the role of influences from the Russian and Ukrainian steppes in the transformation of the American Great Plains from grassland to major agricultural region, albeit one with recurring droughts, between the 1870s and 1940s.”
1. The steppe land of New Russia, as well as of the rest of Eurasia, enjoyed a unrealistically favorable reputation for fertility. The land was fertile, to be sure, but the legend had outstripped the reality, or so it seems. Thus when the earliest Mennonites and even Benjamin Buller emigrated to Molotschna, their expectations may have been higher than was warranted. One might even suspect that their decision to emigrate was fueled by those unrealistic expectations.
2. Further, even if they enjoyed bumper harvests during the initial years (the 1:10 yield), the richness of the soil was depleted over time, and their yields probably fell to 1:6 or 1:4—even lower, when a weather pattern resulted in poor growing conditions. The fact that the Molotschna colony actually thrived for so long is a testament both to their will and their ingenuity in meeting each new challenge.
3. The moderate climate and black earth established the general potential of the area, but it in no way guaranteed success from year to year. As we will learn in subsequent posts, drought was a frequent experience for the farmers of the steppe, as were dust storms and even locusts. Molotschna was not a garden of Eden, and our ancestors did not enjoy endless bounty.
4. Finally, it is no accident that in the 1870s, when a third of Molotschna’s Mennonites decided to leave, many settled in the only other black-earth steppe in the world, whether in the Canadian prairies of Manitoba or the Great Plains of the central United States.* As we have remarked several times, although Peter D and family traveled thousands of miles to central Nebraska, their new life no doubt seemed in many ways familiar, perhaps even less of a shock than when Peter’s grandfather Benjamin moved only hundreds of miles from the Vistula River to modern-day Ukraine.
Note
* Not surprisingly, David Moon, whose 2013 book The Plough That Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia’s Grasslands, 1700–1914, has informed much of this blog series, is currently engaged in a research project titled “The Amerikan Steppes: Russian Influences on the Great Plains.” According to the project website (here), “This project analyzes the role of influences from the Russian and Ukrainian steppes in the transformation of the American Great Plains from grassland to major agricultural region, albeit one with recurring droughts, between the 1870s and 1940s.”
Works Cited
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). n.d. Mineral Soils Conditioned by a Steppic Climate. Available online here.
Fedotova, Anastasia A. 2010. The Origins of the Russian Chernozem Soil (Black Earth): Franz Joseph Ruprecht’s ‘Geo-Botanical Researches into the Chernozem’ of 1866. Environment and History 16:271–93.
Fedotova, Anastasia A. 2010. The Origins of the Russian Chernozem Soil (Black Earth): Franz Joseph Ruprecht’s ‘Geo-Botanical Researches into the Chernozem’ of 1866. Environment and History 16:271–93.
Moon, David. 2013. The Plough That Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia’s Grasslands, 1700–1914. Oxford Studies in Modern European History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Staples, John R. 2003. Cross-Cultural Encounters on the Ukrainian Steppe: Settling the Molochna Basin, 1783–1861. Tsarist and Soviet Mennonite Studies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment