Halbstadt 10

In the previous section of commentary on the Halbstadt community report (Gemeindebericht) we learned about the soil where the Mennonite farmers settled and its agricultural potential. In this post we turn to another aspect of the territory: its utter lack of trees when the settlers arrived.

To beautify the treeless steppe, a wooded area of 10.5 dessiatines was planted at the north end of the village close to the Molotschna; this was at the request of His Majesty Alexander I during his highly esteemed visit to the local villages in 1825. Seeds from abroad were obtained for this purpose by His Excellency State Councillor Mr. Contenius and the local Agricultural Society. In addition, under the management of the Society, every farmer [i.e., landowner] has planted 1 dessiatine of various fruit trees on his hearth as a garden.

treeless steppe. As noted often, the steppeland of the Molotschna colony was devoid of trees when the Mennonites first settled there. This was one of the features that caught the attention of outsiders as early as the Greek historian Herodotus, more than four centuries before Jesus. Much later, during Catherine the Great’s tour of the territory, she “noted with dismay the lack of trees” across the region (Moon 2013, 39; see further 36–39). According to David Moon, the absence of trees was not a natural phenomenon. He explains:

The environment of the steppes encountered by the first waves of migrants was not a “pristine” world that had evolved independently of human action. Later research confirmed the suspicions of some earlier specialists … that the treeless grassland was to some extent created by human activity. For many centuries, the indigenous, nomadic population burned the steppe to encourage the growth of fresh grasses for their herds of livestock to graze on. The combined effects of fire and grazing contributed to the evolution of the grassland, restricting the spread of trees and shrubs from those parts of the landscape where they grew naturally. (2013, 7)

Human activity had created a treeless landscape, and now human activity would reverse course and populate the steppes with beautiful trees.

wooded area of 10.5 dessiatines. The community report begins with a communal area and activity: the planting of a wooded area at the north end of the village, near the Molotschna River. A dessiatine is equivalent to 2.7 acres, so the size of the wooded area was a little more than 28 acres. The community report does not specify what type of trees were planted here, but these were almost certainly forest trees (see below). An aerial examination of the village site today does not reveal any traces of this wooded area; presumably the trees died or were cut for firewood at some point during Halbstadt’s history.

request of … Alexander I. The commitment to planting trees is attributed to Tsar Alexander I, but it was not due entirely to him. Alexander I visited Molotschna twice, in 1818 and 1825, and several roughly contemporary sources record that during his second visit he encouraged the Mennonite residents to plant trees. An 1831 letter from Andrei M. Fadeev, chairman of the Ekaterinoslav Bureau of the Guardianship Committee, to Johann Cornies explains:

Mennonite communities in general, and every individual in particular, must henceforth give preferential and continuous attention to the development of orchard- and forest-tree culture. Both of these economic branches can help lay the foundation of prosperity for Mennonites and their descendants, and visibly distinguish their villages from others.

     The obligation of the Molochnaia Mennonites must rest on sacred feelings of gratitude and on their promise to establish and spread the cultivation of forest trees. In 1825, during His Majesty’s last visit to the Molochnaia villages, Mennonites solemnly promised the late Tsar Alexander, of ever-glorious memory, to lay out small village woodlots in which each household would be assigned a half-desiatina plot. This vow must not be broken. Actions in this regard will assist Mennonites in maintaining their privileges on a firm, enduring foundation, and will establish their own prosperity and that of their descendants. (Cornies 2015, 227–28)

A brochure written by Fadeev four years earlier, in 1827, recounts Alexander’s visit in even greater detail. Fadeev had accompanied Alexander on the journey, so he was well equipped to offer a reliable report. His account of one conversation is especially relevant here:

After dinner His Majesty entered the other room. After several minutes the Mennonite elders were called. The Monarch asked them whether they were satisfied in everything and whether they might not have some complaints. After they answered that in every respect they were happy and satisfied, and that nothing remained for them than to thank the Monarch for his charity and grace, he said, “I am likewise satisfied with you for your quiet life and diligence. However, I wish that on each farm you would plant trees—particularly the American acacia that grows quickly in this area—in groves up to half a desiatin in size.” (Good and Good 1989, 127)

Note the slight difference between the two reports: the first refers to “small village woodlots in which each household would be assigned a half-desiatina plot,” whereas in the second Alexander expresses the wish that “on each farm you would plant trees … in groves up to half a desiatin in size.” The single wooded area described in the Halbstadt community report corresponds more closely to the 1831 account; the size of the wooded area (10.5 dessiatines) likewise matches a half-dessiatine allotment for each of Halbstadt’s original twenty-one farmsteads.

In Fadeev’s 1827 account, Alexander commends fast-growing acacia trees as an especially promising option. According to Peter Köppen, a Russian official who visited Molotschna in 1837, “The trees they [the Mennonites] planted most frequently were elm, ash, and maple, and also poplar and black locust. In addition, they had managed to grow some coniferous trees” (Moon 2013, 181). All these varieties would have been appropriate for Halbstadt’s communal wooded area, although, of course, we do not know what type(s) of trees were actually planted there.

Finally, as mentioned above, these tree-planting initiatives were not solely attributable to Alexander. In fact, Fadeev’s 1827 brochure records him clarifying for Alexander that a particular stop on their route was not a village but rather “the estate [Vorwerk] established on the land granted by Your Majesty to the late Mennonite elder, Wiens, for his zealous service and establishment of the first forest plantation in this district” (Good and Good 1989, 125, emphasis added). Likewise, Fadeev’s 1831 letter to Cornies notes that “orchards and forest trees are already well established in several Molochnaia Mennonite villages” (Cornies 2015, 228). In light of this evidence, we should conclude that Alexander’s 1825 comments did not initiate the Molotschna tree-planting efforts but rather gave them a much-needed boost and focus.

State Councillor Mr. Contenius and the local Agricultural Society. We met Samuel Contenius earlier (see here) due to his involvement in assigning lands to the settlers. Here he is credited with securing and providing tree seeds to the Mennonite villages. As noted earlier, Contenius retired from his chairmanship of the Yekaterinoslav Guardianship Office in 1818, so his procurement of seeds from foreign sources either took place before that time or was part of his unofficial work on behalf of the Guardianship Office before his death in 1830.

References to the Agricultural Society can be confusing, since there was not one but three such bodies over the first half of the nineteenth century. As John R. Staples summarizes, 

The most visible elements of Nicholas’ reforms in the Molochnaia were economic “societies.” Contenius had created a first, the Sheep Society, in 1824, before Nicholas’ ascension to the throne. It provided a model for the much more powerful Forestry Society, created at the state’s behest in 1831, and, most importantly, the Agricultural Society, created in 1836. (Staples 2015, xliii)

Staples further explains 

Contenius personally created the Sheep Society and provided detailed instructions on its structure and activities. He hand-picked Cornies as its chair-for-life and insisted that Cornies report extensively on his activities and successes. The Forestry Society was also Contenius’ idea, although by the time it was created he had died, and Fadeev played the central role in formulating its charter. (2015, xliii)

In seems most probable that the reference to the Agricultural Society in the Halbstadt community report is to the Forestry Society. For what appears to be the Forestry Society’s charter, see Cornies 2015, 227–35. 

every farmer has planted 1 dessiatine of various fruit trees on his hearth. In addition to requiring the creation of village forest areas, the Forestry Society mandated the planting of fruit trees. Each landowner (i.e., owner of a Wirschaft) was required to plant various fruit trees on his village lot. Fadeev writes in his 1831 charter letter to Cornies:

In Mennonite villages, a number of good, well-disposed householders have laid out large orchards with good fruit trees. To advance orchard cultivation as a flourishing branch of the economy in Mennonite villages generally, and to distinguish them from other settlements of this region without the advantages and privileges granted to Mennonites, every householder is obligated to lay out an orchard behind his house of a size permitted by the local situation and his means. The soil must be adequately prepared and the site protected from livestock damage. … The dimensions of areas selected by each householder for his fruit orchard must be measured and calculations must be made to determine how many rows of trees can be planted without crowding. Every tree must be given sufficient space to grow naturally, so that roots and crowns do not eventually grow together. Experience shows orchards with trees planted too close together result in inferior trees and less fruit than orchards where sun and air can have a beneficial influence on the crown of every individual tree. … Very dry or hot locations are exceptions, where trees must be planted closer together. Spaces between apple and pear trees should be filled with cherry, peach, apricot, and plum trees … as the most useful fruits for every husbandman on the land. (Cornies 2015, 231–32)

According to the Halbstadt community report, the residents of that village had each planted 1 dessiatine (= 2.7 acres) of fruit trees on their lots. Of course, we should not understand this statement literally but as a general description of the villagers’ compliance with the Forestry Service requirement.

In the following (much briefer) post, we will return to Elder Wiens, who not only planted the first forest plantation but also played a key role in the history of Halbstadt.

Works Cited

Cornies, Johann. 2015. Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe: Letters and Papers of Johann Cornies. Volume 1: 1812–1835. Translated by Ingrid I. Epp. Edited by Harvey L. Dyck, Ingrid I. Epp, and John R. Staples. Tsarist and Soviet Mennonite Studies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Good, E. Reginald, and Kathryn Shantz Good, trans. and eds. 1989. “The Last Visit of Emperor Alexander I to the Mennonite Colonies.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 7:123–30. Available online here.

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. 2015. “Introduction.” Pages xxi–lvi in Cornies 2015.