Lukács László (szerk.): Märkte und Warenaustausch im Pannonischen Raum - István Király Múzeum közelményei. A. sorozat 28. (Székesfehérvár, 1988)

Lubica Falt'anová: The Main Directions of Trade from Slovakia

evident from information from the end of the 19th century. This shows that Pest was not adequately supplied with fruits from Slovakia, in spite of the cargos floated on rafts. (4) Other literary references show that fruits transported on rafts, including forest fruits floated on rafts on the river Hron, were known in the markets in Vienna and Pest, as well as distillates, of which "plum-brandy from Bosáca" was the best known.(5)

Plums named "mag baba szilva" were famous in the markets of Budapest; they were imported by greengrocers, along with cherries, from the important fruit culture and production centres of Hont and Novohrad. The plums called "kökéi szilva", transported on the Danube by hucksters from Vacov, were also known in Budapest. The fruits from these regions were bought up by middlemen from Pest, and those from the western Slovakian villages neighbouring the town Trnava by the hucksters from Austria.(6) An example of specialization in fruit-trading was the village of Vestenice, in Upper Nitra, which became the most famous in fruit-trading within the framework of the whole Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. According to the demands from individual countries, the merchants from Vestenice exported apples to the Transdanubian region, dried fruits to the regions between the County of Pest and Tisza, and white plums to Poland.(7) As far as trading with vegetables is concerned, some production regions were exclusively orientated towards Vienna. From the point of view of Slovakia as a whole, Záhorie situated in south-western Slovakia was a very important vegetable production region.

The inhabitants of Záhorie (villages of Stupava, Mást, Záhorská Devínska Nova Vés) covered the 40-5Ü km distances between their villages and Vienna first in carts and later by train. Their travels had a precise direction; they wandered over Marchegg, where a ferry-boat over the river Morava was installed.

To get an idea of the approximate quantity of vegetables sold in markets in Vienna, we can use sources that tell us that in the wholesale market 50-60 cart-loads were sold at once and the capacity of one cart was 10-20 metric cents of vegetables. Informants used to call the market where they sold their products in bulk straightaway "osmork", obviously from the German Ost Markt, the nearest eastern market on their way from Záhorie. In the other marketplaces, named "Leopolstat" "Felt", "Fünhazen", "Karnsenitelplac", "Rastorf", "Simprum" and "Ogrung" they retailed their goods throughout the whole day. Besides those forms of sale, they also sold vegetables by peddling, "hausierung", i.e. as pedlars selling -from house to house.(8) Vienna, therefore, was supplied with vegetables from the region of Záhorie; on the other hand, the connection with the Transdanubian region, Pest, Esztergom and Vác, was arranged by greengrocers from villages situated in southern Slovakia.(9)

In the last century and earlier, dairy produce, particularly cheeses, became famous in non-Slovak markets. They were amongst the important export commodities for a long time. The export of these products has already been described in the literature about Slovakia. This literature also plays an important role today from the ethnographic point of view as a source of references. Ján ?aplovi£ in his famous Slowaken in Ungarn writes in 1818: "Who would not know the inhabitants from the small town of Stará Turá in County Nitra, who may be seen at anytime, just like the Brezovans, in all the capitals (Vienna, Bratislava, Pest), selling cheese and melted butter. they supply in particular the market in the Dominikanerplatz in Vienna, where they sell excellent products from Liptov, Zvolen, Orava, Turiec and the Gemer Alps".(10) And he adds:"Many inhabitants from Zvolen, Liptov and Spis also

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