Face to the Sun: The Exploitation of Arable

Dodgshon, Robert

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16361-7_3

Robert Dodgshon⁹

Part of the book series: Historical Geography and Geosciences ((HIGEGE))

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Abstract

The Alps form a challenging ecology for crop production. Factors like slope steepness and soil depth place fundamental constraints on what could be cultivated. Aspect too, plays a major role, with slopes facing the sun, the adret, being advantaged and those in the shadow or ubac with a severely oblique face to it, being greatly disadvantaged. The shorter growing season, and greater incidence of risk, that came with increased height imposed further fundamental constraints and, ultimately, set an uncompromising limit on what could or could not be grown as communities pushed upslope. Even what lay down the slope, on the low valley ground, could face problems owing to temperature inversions and the heightened risk of frost. Given this tight framing to cultivation, it is not surprising that Alpine communities needed to be acutely sensitive to the risks as well as the possibilities of their setting. Yet even given these limitations and risks, the traditional Alpine farming community maintained a significant arable sector. I want to deal with these various issues under six headings. First, I want to briefly review the ecology of Alpine arable. Second, I want to explore the scale of arable available to farming communities and how access to it varied across the farming community. Third, I want to examine the cropping strategies that were adopted, especially as regards grain cropping. In the fourth, I want to consider the diversity of cropping present in the region. Fifth, I want to review the kinds of crop husbandry employed by Alpine communities, especially how they coped with the challenge of maintaining nutrient flow. Sixth, I want to round off my discussion by considering the extent to which communities were routinely self-sufficient when it came to their arable output, looking at the problem in terms of what was sown and the returns on seed.

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Notes

1.
Vivier, Le Briançonnais Rural Aux XVIII^e et XIX^e Siècles, 31.
2.
E.g. Peattie, ‘La question de l’adret et de l’ubac’, 175–187; Garnett, ‘Insolation, topography and settlement in the Alps’, 601–617; Garnett, ‘Insolation and Relief’, 1–71; Burns, ‘The ecological basis of French Alpine peasant communities in the Dauphiné’, 19–35; Burns, ‘The circum-Alpine culture area’, 139; Viazzo, Upland Communities, 18. Even for common grazings, the inclinaison du sol was important, see HS-A, Entremont, 2 0 900, ‘L’Etat des Biens Communaux’, 1862.
3.
We can see this in a survey of woods and grazings across Aoste in 1783, with the state of their bank-side trees being reported on in each commune , see VAAH-A, Fonds Ville, ROD5, ‘Rapport des Communes sur les Bois et Fôrets 1782–83’.
4.
The extent to which Alpine farmers accumulated local knowledge about risks, and passed it on inter-generationally, is well covered by Reichel and Frömming, ‘Participatory mapping of local disaster risk reduction knowledge: an example from Switzerland’, 41–54.
5.
Data based on Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schweiz , 1894, 3. The data for the height of communes was based on what was seen as their central point, or their church.
6.
Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schweiz , 1895, 106.
7.
Netting, Balancing on an Alp, 10.
8.
Loup. Pasteurs et Agriculteurs Valaisans, 207.
9.
Monheim provides a number of instances of cultivation up to 1700 m further south, see his ‘Les systèmes agricoles des Alpes occidentales’, 608, 612–3 and 629–30.
10.
Mathieu, History of the Alps 1500–1900, 55.
11.
Ibid., 53.
12.
For comparison, nineteenth-century data for St. Martin D’Entraunes shows that approximately one-third of arable was under fallow, AM-N, St. Martin D’Entraunes, E053/033 3F1, ‘Notes Statistiques de la Commune de Saint-Martin-D’Entraunes, 1853’.
13.
Ibid., Saint-Martin-D’Entraunes, E 085/015 CC17.
14.
S-C, C863, ‘Registre’, 113–119.
15.
HA-G, P 13642, ‘Département Des Hautes-Alpes—Tabulation de la Division du Territoire du Département Des Hautes-Alpes, 1^er Septembre 1844’.
16.
HA-G, P 13642, ‘Département Des Hautes-Alpes par nature de propriétés en de Surfaces, 1^er Septembre 1844’.
17.
HA-G, P 13642, ‘Département Des Hautes-Alpes par nature de propriétés en de Surfaces, 1^er Septembre 1844’.
18.
AHP-DLB, 6M318, ‘Statistique Agricole Annuelle … Récoltes de 1901’.
19.
Ibid., Allos, ‘Cadastre’, 3 POO 31, 1836.
20.
AEV-S, Anniviers, 265c, ‘Liste du produit du grain’. The size of the toise varied greatly across Switzerland and Savoie. In Valais, the toise was reckoned to be 1.95 m as a measure of length but its extent as an areal measure, the toise carrée, is less certain, but estimates for Anniviers see it as equalling 3.8 m². This is the estimate used here for converting the Anniviers’ survey data into hectares.
21.
Ibid.
22.
AEV-S, Anniviers, 265f, ‘Premier livre’.
23.
The role played by supplementary trades is well brought out by Vigier, Essai sur la Répartition de la Propriété Foncière dans la Région Alpine, 144.
24.
AHP-DLB, 6M299, ‘Statistique de France, 1836–7’, nos. 1, 7, 9, 14, 18.
25.
Garden data per householder drawn from AEV-S, Annivier 265f, untitled.
26.
Chabot and Blanchet, Dictionnaire des Patois du Dauphiné, vol. 1, p. 144.
27.
I-G, St. Martin de la Cluze, 4E483/197, ‘Estat de la quantite des bleds … 1693’.
28.
Its use to describe spring sown cereals other than wheat, as well as legumes, is proposed by Comet, Le Paysan et son Outil, p. 229.
29.
See, for example, I-G, St. Martin de la Cluze, 4E483/197, Circular issued at Grenoble, 3rd June, 1693.
30.
HA-G, Rambaud, ‘Etat des Denrées Recüeilles dans la Communauté de Rambaud, 1711’.
31.
Ibid., 3 E Art. 6000, Dated 1709 and ibid., poster issued at Grenoble, 1710.
32.
Vivier, Le Briançonnais Rural Aux XVIII^e et XIX^e Siècles, 63.
33.
Eg. I-G, Saint-André-de-la-Gaz, 4E 598/27, ‘Recensement des Grains, 1791’; ibid., 4 E 445/40, Oris en Rattier, ‘Recensement Bétail et Récolte, an II-an 111’.
34.
S-C, C863, Registre, 6, Listing of harvest output 1756, section on ‘annotations’ at the end, 118–119.
35.
AM-N, Gauillaumes, 007/081 3F1, ‘Nouvelle Declaration des grains’, ‘Recensement general des grains et legumes’, and ‘Recensement general des grains et fourrage’ 1793–4.
36.
Sclafert, ‘Usages agraires dans les régions provençales avant le XVIII^e siècle’, 476. Sclafert quotes the Dictionnaire Provençal Français (J-T. Avril, 1839) which defines méteil as a ‘mélange de plusieurs espèces de blé, ordinairement froment et seigle’.
37.
‘Statistique Agricole de Mellarède’, 1701, reproduced in Lacroix and Bracq, Du mélèze au palmier nature, cultures et paysages des Alpes-Maritimes, 85–87.
38.
I-G, St. Martin de la Cluze, 4E483/197, ‘Estat de la quantité des bleds … 1693’; ibid., La Cluze et Pasquier, 4E483/195, ‘Estat des familles et revenues du La Comm^te La Cluze et Pasquier 1726’.
39.
S-C, C863, ‘Registre’.
40.
Fribourg, Gruyère, CEF 939, ‘Recensement des Grains, 1785’.
41.
AHP-DLB, 6M299, ‘Statistique de France, 1836–7’, nos. 1–18.
42.
S-C, C863, ‘Registre’.
43.
Fribourg, Gruyère, CEF no. 939, ‘Recensement des grains 1785’.
44.
AM-N, Guillaumes, E007/081 3F1, ‘Nouvelle Declaration des grains’, ‘Recensement general des grains et legumes’, and ‘Recensement general des grains et fourrage’ 1793–4.
45.
I-G, Valbonnais, 4E 440/344, ‘Recensement des grains et autres produits agricoles an II’.
46.
HS-A, Chamonix, E dépôt HH1, ‘Etat de la récolte de la Paroisse de Chamonix … 14 7^bre, 1782’.
47.
Ibid., Saint-Sigismond, 3 F Art. 6, ‘Recensement général de chaque espéce de grain, légumes, fruits fareineux, fourrage … Récolte de l’an second de la République’.
48.
Blanchard, Alpes Occidentales, vol. 7, p. 281.
49.
HS-A, Saint-Sigismond, 3 F Art. 6, ‘Recensement général de chaque espéce de grain, légumes, fruits fareineux, fourrage … Récolte de l’an second de la Republique’. Vivier’s data for the Briançonnais suggests that potatoes that were well-established there before the end of the eighteenth century, see Le Briançonnais Rural Aux XVIII^e et XIX^e Siècles, 64.
50.
AEV-S, Sierre Bourgeoisie, 282/4, ‘Renseignements sur les récoltes de 1813 … Département du Simplon’. See also, what appears a more restricted sample of cropping, dated 1812, that probably covers only a single quartier in ibid., 282/1.
51.
Their greater yield was estimated as 77% higher by Pfister, see his ‘Food supply in the Swiss Canton of Bern’, 1850’, 290.
52.
Statistique Dictionnaire 1859, vol. ii, p. 301. For a counter view of potato’s ability to cope with marginal conditions, especially cold conditions, see Burns, ‘The circum-Alpine culture area: a preliminary view, 135.
53.
Statistique Dictionnaire 1859, vol. ii, 301.
54.
Ibid., vols. i and ii provides a number of references to potatoes and their introduction into Switzerland in 1730, vol. 1, 479. 37. The fact they could be grown at a ‘great height is noted, ii, 301, as well as the fact they were now grown as a field crop, i, 199, and had become a staple food, i, 226’.
55.
Pfister, ‘Food supply in the Swiss Canton of Bern, 1850’, 288.
56.
See the references provided in AHP-DLB, 6M299, ‘Statistique de France … Tableau de Culture de la Commune, 1836’. A list covering vine cultivation in the Basses-Alpes is provided by ibid., 6 M 300, ‘Culture de la Vigne, Evaluation du Produit en 1847 et 1848’. It covers 35 communes a few years before the devastation caused by the outbreak of phylloxera, with their extent ranging from 393 ha in Sisteron and to 298 ha in L’Escale down to 2 ha in Faucon and 3 ha in Sigoyer. Overall, the average was 60.2 ha per commune across the 35 communes.
57.
A good example of vines being mentioned in a crop list is provided by I-G, Villeneuve du Marc, 4E544/138, ‘Etat des grains, legumes et bestiaux, 1727’.
58.
Valbonnais, on the edge of the Massif d’Ecrins provides an illustration of this. Vines do not appear in its crop list dated ‘an II de la Rep.’ However, in lists of damage caused by orages or heavy downpours, we find damage to vines being reported in 1733, 1737, 1764 and 1778–9. In 1764, it was a ‘Foudre d’eau’ that carried away land and vines entirely. In 1778–9, it was rapid rain ‘extraordinaire’ at end of July that caused the damage. See I-G, Valbonnais, 4E440/313, inc. mss entitled ‘Pluie et neige, 1750–51’, ‘Pluie et Grêle 1750–51’, ‘Pluie 1764’ and ‘Grêle et Crues 1778–1779’. See also, HA-G, Crevoux, 3E 3245, Harvest loss 1764, which talks about a hailstorm in spingtime carrying away their grains and vines; AM-N, Roquebillière, E002/041 3F04, ‘Roquebillière 26 aout 1810’, report of damage caused by hail to vines.
59.
S-C, C863, ‘Registre’, 113–119. See also, Pasquel and Simon-Chautemps, ‘Un vignoble de Montagne en Tarentaise’, 358–69, which, amongst other things, uses the Sarde surveys (1728–32) as a source for the significant presence of vines.
60.
The 1792 crop list for Saint-Sigismond, for example, with its very detailed list of field and garden crops makes no reference to vines, see Haute-Savoie, Annecy, Saint-Sigismond, 3 F Art. 6, ‘Recensement général de chaque espéce de grain, légumes, fruits, fourrage … Récolte de l’an second de la République’. None of the 1785 crop listings sampled for the Gruyère district contain any mention of vines, see Fribourg, Gruyère, CEF 939, ‘Recensement des Grains, 1785’. Nor is there mention of vines in the 1813 listing of crops for Sierre. AEV-S, Sierre Bourgeoisie, 282/4, ‘Renseignements sur les récoltes de 1813 … Département du Simplon.
61.
F-F, Annuaire Statistique de la Suisse 1895, 106–7.
62.
‘Statistique agricole de Mellarède’, 1701’, 85–7.
63.
S-C, C863, ‘Registre’, 113–119.
64.
References to hemp occur in ibid.; ‘Statistique agricole de Mellarède’, 1701’, 85–7; data collected for the 1836 national census by communes within the canton of Colmars also record the presence of hemp, see for example, AHP-DLB, St. Benoit, 6M299, ‘Statistique de France … Tableau de Culture de la Commune, 1836’, see also those for Thorame-Hautes and Chantelouvre.
65.
AM-N, Guillaumes, E007/081 3F1, ‘Nouvelle Declaration des grains’, ‘Recensement general des grains et legumes’, and ‘Recensement general des grains et fourrage’ 1793–4.
66.
Burns, ‘The circum-Alpine culture area’, 135.
67.
AM-N, Saint-Martin-d’Entraunes, E058/018 HH1, ‘Ordonnances Municipales de la Communauté de St. Martin, 1742’.
68.
HS-A, Saint-Sigismond, E Dépôt 1 N Art. 1, Untitled loose papers on cultivated acreages, 1853. See also, Vivier, Le Briançonnais Rural Aux XVIII^e et XIX^e Siècles, 64.
69.
Hubert, ‘Changing land uses in Provence’, 34. See also, Coulet, ‘Notes sur l’élevage en Alpes-de-Haute-Provence’, 259, who quotes Benevent, Leonard, Benoit, Girard, Durand, Visages de la Provence, 11, in support.
70.
S-C, C707, ‘La Chavanne, Sur la demande faite … 18 mars 1773’.
71.
Ibid., Les Mollettes, ‘Sur la demande faite … 18 mars 1773’; Blaneise, ‘Sur la demande faite … 18 mars 1773’; ibid., Ste-Hélène-du-Lac, ‘Sur la demande faite … 18 mars 1773’; ibid., Greisy, ‘Sur la demande faite … 18 mars 1773’.
72.
AHP-DLB, Montclar, E Dep. 126/6, series N 1 Art. 1, MS dated 19 juin, 1859 concerning ‘montagne pastorale’. See also, ibid., ‘Extrait des registres deposés au gresses du tribunal du district de Digne-les-Bains … 14 germinal an 3^eme de la Répubique’. A valuable attempt to calculate the flow of nutrients from the commons via manure can be found in Crook, Siddle, Dearing and Thomson, ‘Human Impact on the Environment in the Annecy Petit Lac Catchment, Haute-Savoie’, 272. See also, Pfister, ‘Food supply in the Swiss Canton of Bern’, 1850, 288.
73.
See Sclafert, Le Haut-Dauphiné au Moyen Âge, 43.
74.
Carrier and Mouthon, Paysans des Alpes, 212–15.
75.
For a regulation dealing with stubble grazing, see AM-N, St.-Martin-d’Entraunes, E058/018 HH, ‘Ordonnances municipales de Biens Communaux 1564’ (1732 copy). For stubble grazing in a medieval context, see Faith, ‘Medieval agrarian systems’, 222.
76.
See, for example, AM-N, Guillaumes, E007/081 3F1, ‘Nouvelle Declaration des grains’, ‘Recensement general des grains et legumes’, and ‘Recensement general des grains et fourrage’ 1793–4.
77.
Hubert, ‘Changing land uses in Provence (France)’, 36.
78.
Faith, ‘Medieval agrarian systems’, 223.
79.
Siddle, ‘Agrarian systems in the post-medieval period’, 247–8, 252.
80.
Sclafert, Le Haut Dauphiné au MoyenÂge, 46.
81.
Mouthon, ‘L’Essartage dans les Alpes Occidentales’, 109–26.
82.
Boserup argued that the growth of population led to more and more intensive systems of population, see Boserup, Conditions of Agricultural Growth.
83.
For specific examples, see Sclafert, ‘Usages agraires dans les régions provençales avant le XVIII^e siècle’, 465.
84.
AM-N, Saint-Martin-d’Entraunes, E058/033 5F1, ‘Notes Statistiques … St. Martin d’Entraunes … 1853’.
85.
Its ongoing presence in Isère, is indicated by a completed census sheet, dated 1882 for Chantelouvre. The sheet defines fallow as land left without a crop for the year. It mentions the sparse grass that might grow in such a space over time but points out how much more productive it would be under sown grass, see I-G, Chantelouvre, 4E441/2, ‘Questionnaire de la Statistique Agricole Décennale de 1882’.
86.
Bridel, Essai statistique sur le canton de Vallais, 315.
87.
Monheim, ‘Les systèmes agricoles des Alpes occidentales’, 605–31.
88.
Dubuis, Une économie alpine à la fin du Moyen Âge: Orsières, l’Entremont et les régions voisines 1250–1500, vol. 1, 231.
89.
Monheim, ‘Les systèmes agricoles des Alpes occidentales’, 607–8, observes that fallow was used in areas prone to drought, such as Briançonnais and the Alpes-Maritimes, with the fallow helping to conserve moisture in the ground if the surface was broken on a regular basis.
90.
Ibid., vol. 1, 231. See also, Loup, Pasteurs et Agriculteurs Valaisans, 207. For bi- and triennial systems of fallowing in Haute-Savoie, see Crook et al., ‘Human impact on the environment in the Annecy Petit Lac Catchment, Haute-Savoie’, 263.
91.
Dubuis, Une économie alpine à la fin du Moyen Âge, 232–5.
92.
Ibid., 59.
93.
Mathieu, History of the Alps 1500–1900, 2006, 59. It is worth noting that Hubert also concluded that the output of cereal cropping under a biennial scheme of one year under crop and one under fallow was barely capable of supporting one person per hectare, see Hubert, ‘Changing land uses in Provence’, 34.
94.
Sclafert, ‘Usages agraires dans les régions provençales avant le XVIII^e siècle’, 492.
95.
Hubert, ‘Changing land uses in Provence’, 34.
96.
Crook et al. date this use of a wider range of crops to the early nineteenth century, see ‘Human Impact on the Environment in the Annecy Petit Lac Catchment, Haute-Savoie’, 270. A case for an earlier diversification though, could be made for other areas in the northern Alps.
97.
I-G, Saint-Martin-de-la-Cluze, 4E483/197, ‘Éstat … Ensemencée pour la récolte de l’année, 1693’; ibid., ‘Estat de la quantite des bleds … 1693’. See also, ibid., Auris, 4E24/S 20, ‘Disettes et Calmités agricoles 1652-An II’, esp. ‘Concernant les damages … an II’.
98.
AHP-DLB, Colmars, E Dépôt 061/3F2, ‘Le Tableau des ensemencements existants dans le Canton de Colmars, 1794’.
99.
S-C, C707, no. 11, Val de Tignes, ‘Extrait … L’Intendant de Tarentaise … 8^e aout, 1758’. See the similar point made by Viallet regarding the sale of Gruyère cheese in Les Alpages et la Vie d’une Communauté Montagnarde: Beaufort du Moyen Âge au XVIIIe Siècl^e, 60.
100.
HA-G, 3 E Art. 7890, ‘Registre des déclarations des particulièrs qui demande du grain … 1791’.
101.
I-G, Auris, 4E24/S 20, ‘Disettes et Calmités agricoles 1652-An II’, esp. ‘Concernant les damages … an II’.
102.
HA-G, E Dépôt Art. 21, ‘Circular’, 2nd An Rep, Hautes-Alpes. For an earlier outbreak of rust following severe hail and frost, see ibid., Le Batie Neuve, 3 E Art. 4731 DD5, untitled listing of damage, dated 1750.
103.
The quintal (pl. quintaux ) was a common dry measure under the Ancien Regime, amounting to just under 50 kg. After 1840, it was redefined and converted to the metric quintal, which equalled 100 kg.
104.
Pfister, ‘Food supply in the Swiss Canton of Bern, 1850’, 292.
105.
Vivier, Le Briançonnais Rural Aux XVIII^e et XIX^e Siècles, 63. Vivier uses estimates by Fontanieu and Bonnaire, the former give a consumption of 3 quintaux per person per year and the latter as 5 quintaux. However, Vivier adds that neither estimate should be regarded as particularly reliable.
106.
Hubert, ‘Changing land uses in Provence’, 34.
107.
For example, I-G, La Cluze et Pasquiers, 4E483/195, ‘Dénombrement general des habitans … 1748’, lists trades like journalier, mason, petit laboureur, vigneron, meseur as well as their stockholding.
108.
I-G, La Perier, 4E550/135, ‘Etat des recensements des Grains fait dans La Commune du Périer Le 3 messidor an 3^e’.
109.
HA-G, Vallouise, 3 E Art. 7485, F2, ‘Subsistence 1793-an X’; ibid., 3 E Art. 7485, F4 ‘Agriculture pertes de récoltes 1793–1833’.
110.
Ibid., Montmaur, 3 E Art. 7780 F4, ‘La population de la commune du Montmaur, 1809–1810’; ibid., Furmeyer, 3 E Art. 7780 F4, Population and grain needs at Furmeyer, 1810.
111.
Ibid., Chatillon le Desert, 3 E Art. 7780 F4, Grains at Chatillon le Désert, 1810.
112.
AHP-DLB, E Dep. 061/3F2, ‘Etat des Récoltes en Grains et Autres Farineux faites en 1874’.
113.
Ibid., ‘Etat des Récoltes, 1867’.
114.
Ibid., ‘Etat des Récoltes … faites en 1879 … Beauvezer’.
115.
Ibid., ‘Etat des Récoltes … faites en 1879 … Thorame Basse’.
116.
I-G, La Périer, 4E550/135, ‘Etat des recensements des Grains fait dans La Commune du Périer Le 3 messidor an 3^e’ [1795]. The nature of the quartaux as a measure is unclear. It occurs in other grain lists for Le Périer, along with the setier , which appears as a subdivision.
117.
HS-A, Chamonix, E dépôt HH1, ‘Etat de la récolte de la Paroisse de Chamonix … 14 7^bre 1782’. The report tries to define a coupe for us by saying that seven quarts equalled a coupe, but then adds that this was a Chamonix quart.
118.
Émine was a traditional grain measure, its precise amount varying between districts. At Montmaur, five émine equalled a charge whilst at Marseille, four equalled a charge. Attempts to assess the metric equivalent of the émine and charge at Marseille suggests that the former amounted to 40 litres and the latter, 160. The émine was also used as an areal measure of cultivated land, see Sclafert, ‘Usages agraires dans les régions provençales avant le XVIII^e siècle’, 475–6.
119.
HA-G, Montmaur, 3 E Art. 7780 F4, ‘La population de la commune du Montmaur, 1809–1810’.

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Robert Dodgshon

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Dodgshon, R. (2019). Face to the Sun: The Exploitation of Arable. In: Farming Communities in the Western Alps, 1500–1914. Historical Geography and Geosciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16361-7_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16361-7_3
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