A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 6. (Szeged, 2008)

Szűcs Judit: Ártéri és hullámtéri haszonvételek, gazdálkodás Csongrád határában

Usufruct, Farming and Livestock Husbandry in the Flood-basin and Flood-plains in Csongrád by JUDIT Szűcs As part of the Great Plain, the settlement of Csongrád, bounded by brooks, lakes and rivers (the estuary of River Tisza and River Körös), could greatly enjoy the advantages of usufruct in the flood-plains just outside the city precincts (i.e. obtaining plants and fruit growing freely, and taking animals wandering in the area) until the middle of the 19th century; however, from the end of the 19th century - following the regulation of River Tisza and its tributaries - there were much fewer opportunities for this as the floodplains were confined by dams. After the Settlement of Magyars in Hungary, the settlers' occupation and food in the present-day Csongrád area must have been greatly dependent on the courses of the waters, usufruct in the flood-plains, food gathering, fishing, hunting, meadow husbandry and maintaining of vines and orchards in the floodplains. The Turkish tax registers, the 'defters' from the 16

lh century indicate the presence of food and taxable goods originating from livestock husbandry, grain farming and bee-keeping. By 1730, Mátyás Bél had made an account of the possibilities of usufruct in Csongrád county and the flood-plain area by the precinct of the settlement of Csongrád. As part of the Károlyi estate, the 18

lh and 19

lh century sources on Csongrád show records of livestock husbandry (of horse, cattle and sheep) and bee-keeping, data on vine plantation, agistment, hay gardens and forest use, which all evidence the utilization of the flood-plains. As the settlement's precinct was quite short, the people, in order to reach the lands providing their living, built river crossings, operated ports and ferries, and later, built bridges at wading places, which, in time, changed. After the regulation of River Tisza and its tributaries in the second half of the 19

lh century, the concept of flood-plain farming meant the cultivation of crop-lands, the plantation of forests, meadows, grass-lands, orchards and vines in the flood-basin between the dams and the riverbed. The leaders of the settlement ordered the plantation of orchards in several places of the flood-plains. The Flood Prevention Association controlled mainly the maintenance of the forests and the dams; they employed wageworkers who pruned the willows, set the boughs to protect the dams and scythed the grass on the dams. The Association also planted orchards. All layers of the local society: lawyers, teachers, small- and medium holders, craftsmen, fishermen, day-wage workers were happy to use and cultivate the smaller or larger lands in the flood-plains, or readily had these lands cultivated. The flood-plain soil in the years between the floods that inundated the area every 5-10 years yielded three times as much as the lands beyond the dams. After the regulation of the river, the reclaimed meadows, the boundary lands named 'Nagyrét', 'Kisrét', 'Alsórét' and 'Kilences' were allocated. The new owners who moved out to these lands did not only make the lands cultivable, but also realized a homestead, built a farm-house and constructed buildings necessary for the operation of a small farm and for livestock husbandry. The farmers working on the sandy-soiled upper lands tried to purchase lands in Kisrét and Kilences. In this high-quality flood-plain soil they grew feed for their livestock. Even the two bends of River Tisza were cut at the fields of Csongrád. On the bank of the thus created 'Holt-Tisza' (Dead-Tisza) three-, five- and seven-acre orchards and vineyards were realized on the meadows: Mámai-rét, Nagyrét and Kisrét. Near the homesteads of the meadows further vineyards and orchards were planted. The younger generation learned about breeding and maintenance of trees and grapevines from their fathers, uncles, neighbours or in farming schools. The process of grafting stock remained a custom of propagation up to the present day not only in flood-plain farming but also in the gardens of the city where, due to the closeness to River Tisza, groundwater is quite high. The city, as owner of the Holt-Tisza island, apportioned the island called 'Aranysziget' and rented it for cultivation to the poor but arduous families living in the settlement. In these patches of land further vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens were realized. The truck farmers earlier settled in Szentes also came over to the fields of Csongrád. They popularized the method of inundation they applied in olericulture and distributed their produce in the area. In this study the author aimed not only at introducing a few areas of flood-plain farming and husbandry through the example of a settlement on River Tisza, but also at encouraging a revival of this method of farming and livestock husbandry in the future.