Agriculture

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History[edit | edit source]

2nd century AC[edit | edit source]

  • In the XIII-XIV cc. Ryurik-Aeneas and his successors introduce in Russia 'slash and burn' agriculture, based on the cutting down ('slash') or burning down the forests followed by turning them into the agricultural land. Such methods allowed MASS HARVEST WITHOUT FERTILIZATION for the first several decades. This caused an explosive increase in the population of Russia in the XII-XIV cc, which in its turn allowed the new state to have the advantage in military confrontations. To clarify. It is well-known that in Russia prior to the XV century 'the original and predominant agricultural system was slash and burn. To break new ground, plot, parch and INCINERATE THE FORESTS was largely customary in Russia as early as in the XIV and XV cc'. [988:00], article - 'Agriculture'. Such a method could not last indefinitely, as it was based on the VAST DEFORESTATION AND IRRETRIEVABLE EXPLOITATION OF THE BENIGN LAYER OF SOIL ACCUMULATED OVER CENTURIES. When the forests began to run out, and the soil in their place started to run dry this method ceased to be effective...
  • We know that the first agricultural tools in Russia were designed particularly for the 'slash and burn' farming on the site of the burned out forests. 'In Russia such tools were soha (Russian plough) and borona (harrow made of chipping of the tree trunks with the branches 35 to 50 cm long) - two kinds of tools adapted to the stony fields and adapted to the Northern region of Russia, to the REGION OF SLASH AND BURN FARMING' [988:00], article - 'Agricultural equipment and machinery'. It was for a reason that in Ancient Russia there were so called OGNISHANYE, i.e. the proponents of the 'slash and burn' farming, WHO BURNT THE FORESTS DOWN AND PLOUGHED UP THE BURNT SITES (OGNISHA) WHICH EMERGED IN THEIR PLACE [988:00], article - 'Ognishanye'. Only in the XV century, approximately 200 years after the burning of the forests started, they began to think, for the first time, about the necessity of LETTING THE LAND REST. 'The three-field system WAS ALMOST NON EXISTENT BEFORE THE XV CENTURY, the first allusion to it occurs in one judicial scroll of 1503.
  • It became significantly widespread by the middle of the XVI century [988:00], article - 'Agriculture'. Thus the necessity of the multiple field system (when a part of the land was left fallow) appears in Russia only in the XV century and becomes ubiquitous in the XVI century. The initial stage, which consisted of TOTAL DEFORESTATION AND CONVERSION INTO PLOUHGLAND, had to be swift, as while huge harvests were gathered the population grew fast, spread out in all directions and consumed more and more forests. It is known that the speed of such processes is exponential, i.e. alike to an explosion. That is why it cannot be sustained. The time, spent on burning the forests out in Central Russia and then turning them from the solid wild forest into an agricultural country with vast fields and meadows, amounted to approximately 200 years. Tentatively speaking, from the mid of the XIII to the mid of the XV cc.
  • The ability of gathering large harvests from the vast spaces WITHOUT CARING TO FERTILISE OR WATER THE FIELDS (in contrast to many Southern regions, in Central Russia the fields are watered by the rain, with no human intervention), which gave the new state a huge advantage over its enemies. It was possible to raise a strong and healthy population. All of which made it possible to create a huge army Horde, and what's more important, allowed them to constantly nourish it. Such a 'slow start' at the beginning of Horde Russia took around a hundred years: from the beginning to the end of the XIII century.