Bányai Balázs - Kovács Eleonóra (szer.): A"Zichy-expedíció"- Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 48. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
The "Zichy Expedition"
ig6 TH E "ZICHY EXPEDITION THE LANDS OF JENŐ ZICHY It often happens in aristocratic families that the young count begins his own agricultural activity in the lifetime of his parents. The young Jenő Zichy took over the control of some family manors in the lifetime of his father. Therefore in 1893 he already had a holding in Kálóz that was 3038 ’cadastral holds’ in size (1 cadastral hold equals 0,5755 hectar), and a manor of 1184 ‘cadastral holds’ in Szilas-Balhás (County Veszprém, today: Mezőszilas). In County Fejér, he inherited the plain of Felsőszentiván, (administratively now part of Aba), from his bishop uncle Domonkos.46 He already had huge holdings in County Bihar. His uncles, Ödön and Domonkos bought together a holding of around 8-9000 ’cadastral holds’ in Alsó-Lúgos (today: Lugaçu de Jos, Romania) in 1846. This holding was given to count Jenő by his father in 1883, who became its sole proprietor at that time.47 After his father’s death in 1897, the lands of Jenő Zichy were further expanded. He had almost 3000 ‘cadastral holds’ of land in Szentmihály and 3040 ’cadastral hold’ in Pusztaegres (both in County Fejér) on his name. He entailed the latter one and his holdings in Felsőszentiván so as to make these lands difficult for his heirs to sell and pawn. He expanded his manor in Szilas-Balhás with quite a few hundred ’cadastral holds’ until 1897 and he had 1630 ‘cadastral holds' of land in Felső-lreg (County Tolna, Tamási-district, today Iregszemcse). His lands in Alsó-Lúgos (County Bihar) were 9426, in Verzár (today: Füves, Värzari, Romania) 4201 ‘cadastral holds’ in size.48 This shows that Jenő Zichy was not only one of the greatest landowners in County Fejér but was among the greatest in all Hungary. He had 18 900 ’cadastral holds’ of land in Bihar in 1900,49 that was halved in the first years of the new century because his son Rafael received parts of his father’s land.50 In County Fejér he held only the manors of Kishörcsök, Pusztaegres and Sárszentmihály for the same reasons. He kept Szilas-Balhás and a small woodland in County Zala.51 The two territories were used for different agricultural purposes. The lands in the Mezőföld-region and County Tolna were predominantly for plowing and stock-raising. There were no important changes in this respect during the ownership of Jenő Zichy. The biggest patch of land was arable land. The pasture made up many thousand ’cadastral holds’ nonetheless. The meadows were more than 1000 ’cadastral holds’ in size. The forests provided firewood and shelter for wild animals. In Felsőszentiván, Kishörcsök and Felső-lreg were gardens and orchards as well. The river Sárvíz being in the vicinity considerable parts of the land were reed and lakes at the end of the 19th century. Every farm was equipped with the latest agricultural technology, among others the seeder, the steam plow and the locomobile for powering
