Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 12. (1957)

Nagy Lajos: Mezőgazdaság Pesten a XVIII. században = Agriculture in the town of Pest during the 18th century 133-196

(1 cadastral yoke = 1,42 acres). The paper deals in all details with the history of fixing the limits of the town (the limits fixed in 1738, 1743 and 1747 were retained until 1950), with the description of the agricultural surroundings of the town from the viewpoint of economic geography, and with the distribution of this area. The town as a landlord distributed the land from the year 1717 under the citizens, who became not the owners but only the tenants of these landed properties. The title of possession was not civil rights, but house property. Fields, meadows and gardens were extensions of the city houses. Possession of a house and of real estate was a preliminary condition for obtaining civil rights. The distribution of different kinds of landed property was laid down in land registers. By comparing the data of the land registers with the maps constructed by Antal Balla referring to the years 1784—89 and representing the inner sectors and the outskirts of Pest, it is in most cases possible to reconstruct with great exactitude the location, of the areas under agricultural cultivation, i. e. the earliest position after the distribution. With the aid of the land registers the changes of this state of affairs during the 18th century and the increase or diminution of agricultural areas can be closely followed. The examination of the arrangement of the agricultural surroundings of the town in the 18th century allows of observing the trends of the topographical development of the town which are effective almost to date ; at the same time characteristics and problems of the role of agriculture in the life of the town during that century clearly manifest themselves. 1. Gardens. About 300 gardens that existed in the surroundings of the town in the course of the 18th century are known to us. The total area occupied by gardens was 312 800 square fathoms in 1775. The great majority of the gardens was situated between the town and the line drawn by the Rákos-árok, in a semicircular area limited from one side by the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky street of to-day and from the other side by the section of the Danube between the Szabadság-híd (liberty bridge) and Boráros place. The gardens to the north of the present-day Rákóczi street were called upper gardens, those to the south lower gardens. The size of the gardens was very different. There were gardens occupying several cadastral yokes, and there were others not larger than a few hundreds of square fathoms. The garden district stood under special care and protection of the municipal council. In the years following 1730 these gardens were beautifully designed and well kept, enclosed by hoardings or hedges there were orchards, vineyards with scattered press-sheds and cellars. The garden district before the town changed continually during the 18th century. Houses were built in the gardens and many gardens were parcelled out into small building sites. Many gardens however retained their original size. The owners of these were mostly well-to-do citizens or noblemen. 2, Farmsteads. The majority of the farmsteads were situated next to the swampy parts of the Rákos-árok, or at places where drinking water was available. When speaking of farmsteads („major") we must not imagine centers of agriculture on a large scale, but merely farmyards that did not find place between the walls of the town ; the citizens kept there the tools necessary for the cultivation of their land, as well as their animals. The land registers contain 73 farmsteads, but such a number of farmsteads never existed in Pest at the same time. Already in the years after 1730 the dividing up of the area of some farmsteads into building sites was beginning ; this applies especially to the farmsteads that existed in to-day's Baross street. Of the farmsteads, divided up in the course of the century, 13 were situated in the Józsefváros and 4 in the Terézváros districts. The greater part of the farmsteads, however, retained their farmstead character in the course of the 18th century. This character was chiefly determined by the farmyard. Since the number of fields, meadows and vinevards was far greater than that of farmsteads, and since the owners of these mostly lived in the Belváros (the inner district of the town), a great part of the yards of the house«? in the Belváros were also used as farmyards. When in the course of the century the Belváros had gradually developed, the requirements of the citizens for farmsteads continually 13 Tanulmányok Budapest múltjából 193 . •