Foraging

Given the natural endowments of the Carpathian Basin, it was impossible to supply the stock in winter by grazing only. Thus, a certain amount of fodder may have been gathered even around the time of the Conquest, as suggested by one or two words originating from pre-Conquest times. However, the Magyars basically learned to make hay in the Carpathian Basin, supposedly from several Slavic sources. Numerous Hungarian words derive from this source: kasza (scythe); villa (pitchfork); pázsit (turf); perje (meadow grass); széna (hay); kazal (stack), etc. At the same time, certain words prove that the Magyars themselves further advanced some of their earlier knowledge.

The hayfields long remained in the communal possession of the gazdas {257.} of a village, and each year they decided by lot how to divide portions of the common field among themselves. Such drawing of lots must have taken place originally by means of an arrow, and therefore the divided hayfield was called nyilas (arrow), a name preserved in many geographic names. The first hay (agg-, anyaszéna) is mown in the first half of June, before harvest (cf. Ill. 33). They always do this with a scythe, and if the grass is thick enough, they then fasten a cradle made of withes, or a rake made of wood on the scythe, with which to lay the swath nearty.

132. Mowing with scythes
Szék, former Szolnok-Doboka County

The mown swath was handled in different ways in different regions according to the demands of the climate. In the Great Plain and in the dry areas of Transdanubia, the swaths are turned after the first cutting, but there is no need to do so in the case of the second or perhaps third cutting (sarjú). In the mountainous areas and in areas generally more abundant in moisture, the swaths are scattered with pitchforks right away, to dry better (See Plate VI). The gathered hay is piled into a stack on a one- or {258.} three-legged rack in such a way that the bottom will not reach the ground and the stack can thus dry more easily.

Gathering is done with a pitchfork or rake. Pitchforks are made of wood and are generally three-pronged. The dried hay is pushed into small round heaps with them, or maybe into sausages, heaps longitudinal in form. Three to four swaths are gathered with the rake, with which at first they make smaller, and later larger units. During this time the half-dry hay is being further aired and dried out. Finally they heap it in stacks (boglya) in the meadow and keep it there until it can be transported to a permanent place. They store it in the barn, in the hayloft, or perhaps outdoors in ricks (boglya, kazal). Even 20 to 30 cartloads of hay may be put into these, and the stock feed on it through the entire winter.

A whole line of cultivated fodder crops appeared from the end of the 18th century: clover (Trifolium L.), alfalfa (Medicago satica), then, in the 19th century maize, closely sown for fodder (csalamádé, misling), and many other plants. All this is closely connected with the appropriation of pastures by the large estates from the peasants, who were then increasingly compelled to keep the stock in the stable on fodder.

The crops of plough lands also offered various kinds of fodder for the stock. Barley straw is best, but animals were also given chaff out of necessity, as well as dried maize stalks.

133. Gathering hay
Maconka, Heves County

134. Collecting hay
Vista, former Kolozs County

Even during the last century certain old forms of foraging turned up again, though only at times when, because of a great drought, the stock could get through the winter only with great difficulty. First of all, {259.} foliage must be mentioned, carefully collected in the fall and trampled into a pit that was dug in the ground, where the leafage often lasted until spring. In many cases people cut leafy branches, and, in the spring, budding branches for the stock to eat until they could be driven out to pasture.