Gyökerek • A Dráva Múzeum tanulmánykötete, 2005
Ander Balázs: Szulok mezőgazdasága és agrártársadalma a 19-20. század fordulóján a barcsi járás statisztikai adatainak tükrében
Ander Balázs: Szulok mezőgazdasága és agrártársadalma a 19-20. századfordulóján BALÁZS ANDER THE AGRICULTURE AND THE AGRARIAN SOCIETY OF SZULOK AT THE TURN OF THE 1920 TH CENTURY IN COMPARISON TO THE STATISTICAL DATA OF THE REGION OF BARCS SUMMARY The turn of the 19-20th century is an important period-border in the life of the Hungarian agriculture and the noticeable changes of the country produced an effect on the rural areas of Somogy county. The transformation in the district of Bares reflected faithfully the national process and we can observe a considerable development in Szulok too. Owing to the special historical and social evolution of our homeland the liberation of the villeinage during the 1848 revolution already can conservate an essentialy unfair land-distribution structure: the larger part of the arable lands was possessed not by the farmers but the capitalist tenants or rich landlords of noble origin. It is a mere paradox but this disadvantageous situation included some positive effects because it pressed the society of the small land-owners to turn to the intensive agricultural methods which depend on working demand not on the extension of the areas. In his essay the author would like to sketch the process of the transformation with the help of the detailed analysis of the cultivation of plants and the animal husbandry of the district of Bares, and he emphasizes particulary the contingent specific features from Szulok. Investigating the circumstances of Szulok and the other settlements with the help of profound calculations of statistical data the writer sheds light on the village's advantageous situation because in Szulok which was mostly populated by German settlers' descendants there was no larger landed property than 140 acres. Using application and production of interesting sociographycal facts the essay documents that the hard working and industrious German farmers were able to utilize this opportunity because the level of the "peasant-bourgeosity" of the farmers of Szulok was at a high standard in the area of the south part of Somogy county. 83
