Stepanova L.G. The Soil of Valdai based on the Material from the First Russian Land Cadasters

Abstract: The subject of research is the soil resources of Valdai, the territory of which was included in the Derevskaya piatina of the Novgorod land in the 15th - 16th centuries, and in the 18th century in the Valdai district of the Novgorod province. Based on comparable material from the first Russian land cadasters and the Economic notes to the material of the General Land Survey, the author investigates the quality of the land used for arable farming and the yield of basic grain-crops, as well as the features of the agricultural mastering of this region. In the cadasters of the 16th century the land is named "rich", "medium" and "poor". This terminology is still incomprehensible because of its vagueness. At the same time, in the Economic Notes to the General Land Survey there is some information about the composition of the soil, agricultural cultures and the land's fertility. Today, the comparison of the information about the quality and yield of the lands allows us to find out what kind of lands was cultivated in a greater degree. For the analysis of the mass data contained in the cadasters from the middle of the 16th century and the Economic Notes to the General Land Survey at the end of the 18th century, the author used the quantitative methods of research. For the creation of a database containing information on the land's fertility in the second half of the 18th century in the Valdai district of the Novgorod province, Access 2010 was used, which allowed to tabulate data, to conduct a search of the records, to filter data, and to input inquiries in the database for information retrieving. While working with the mass material from the Economic Notes in order to include the necessary information in the database it was necessary to use the method of continuous selection. The research itself is based on the local approach to the understanding of the role of nature in the history of humanity. The created database allowed the author to estimate the quality of the soil in the Valdai district during the second half of the 18th century and for the first time to compare the obtained data with the information on the quality of the land in the middle of the 16th century. It was discovered that in spite of the diversity of soil in the Valdai district, the silt-covered soils were predominantly used in the 18th century despite the fact that they needed fertilizes. The most part of grain-growing was sowed on light soils - silt-covered with sand and silt-covered with stony sand. To a greater degree the sizable and good harvests of grain-crops in the Valdai district during the 18th century were recorded on grey-sandy soils which were named sod-podzol soils in the Economic Notes. However, the amount of plough-lands with grey-sandy soil made up less than one third part from the general array. On the basis of this study the author comes to conclusion that during the 16th -18th centuries new plough-lands gradually appeared in the Valdai district, while the old ones were ploughed off, and therefore perceptions about the richness and leanness of the land were changing.

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