Gulyás Mihály: A baromfi-feldolgozás és a baromfikonzerv-gyártás története Orosházán (A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 12. Békéscsaba-Orosháza, 1987)
of history-writing accepted, that in the economical history of several towns of the Alföld (the Great Hungarian Lowlands) as Makó, Kecskemét, Nagykőrös etc. we can find several characteristics of the capitalist development of agriculture in the so-called farm-type-way. Orosháza also belongs to these towns. Actually there were no large estates in Orosháza, and the greatest part of the surrounding consisted of farm-estates of 15—20—50—100 Hungarian acres. Together with this economical development, with the building of roads and railways foreign poultry-merchants appeared in Orosháza, who ensured the continuous and steady reception of poultry brought to market by inland and foreign transports. The economic activity of the poultry-merchants in the first line served their individual interests, but is indirectly also played an important part in the development of economical life. The author directs our attention on that the poultry-merchant can only work effectively, if breeders keep enough poultry. Therefore starting from this point the author attributes the poultry-keeping of Orosháza and surrounding great importance and gives a detailed description of it beginning with the year 1820. In a special chapter he deals with the connection of poultry-industry and the big agricultural estates. He summerizes the supports given by the poultryindustry. He also speaks of breeding-animals, of hatching, the trade of babypoultry and of health-protection. While collecting data from literature the author found that the method of heating poultry-sheds with fresh dung —against the descriptions appearing after World War II. —can't be considered a discovery, an invention of the American farmers, as this method of heating had already been described about 40 years earlier in the edition of the Orosházi Újság (Orosháza News) of 8th January, 1899. The author deals in detail with the development of the poultry-market and the changes during a whole century. When describing an era the author does not only work with historical descriptions and descriptions of the history of economy. He sees everything also with the eyes of an ethnograph, and so the persons involved, the things and human work get nearer to us. The same happens when describing market-life. All members of the market, so the porters, market-women, retail dealers, wholesalers and the marketpeople of the proceeding-plants all become our acquaintances. The author sets the industrial puoltry-proceeding in Orosháza with 1880. Then Salamon Steinberger settled in Orosháza, who was a regular buyer of all kind of poultry and eggs. Beside the proceeding-halls he built poultry feeding-farms, an ice-pit, later also a cold-storage plant. He also had a limecellar for egg-preservation, which belonged to the late bigger plants. The young generation today knows —lacking data —that taking geese to pieces or opening geese in county plants had started only after the nationalization in 1948. The author clears this and quotes the gazette of the Békés County Economical Society, according to which geese had been opened already before 161
