Summary
Continuing the economic issues of Wierzchosławice demesne in the following issue of Krakow Historical Studies magazine; garden, orchard and hop cultivation, meadow economy and variety of farming have been discussed. Gardens together with orchards occupied from 0% in Sierachowice to 2,7% in Ostrów that is about 0,88% of the whole dominion. They played the most important role in the economy only in XVI and in the first half of the XVII century. A decrease in that kind of cultivation came in the second half of XVII and in XVIII century although in the second half of XVIII century a slight improvement can be seen. The harvest satisfied mainly the needs of the court officials, less the servants. Rarely it was put on sale. There were several gardens in villages on the Wierzchosławice Grange, situated in various places e.g. behind the cowshed or stable. Gardens, surrounded mainly by lathes and also by fences, were divided into small field called ‘lechy’, ‘leszki’, ‘zagony’, ‘kawałki’.
In the XVII and XVIII century the biggest part of the garden was assigned for cabbage farming which was the number one among all vegetables. Sometimes it occupied half of its area and being an important component of the local people’s diet. On second place were carrots. A lot less ground but evenly divided was assigned for onion, parsnip, parsley, poppy and pea together with so called ‘turkish peas’ cultivation. The smallest in amount were beetroots, horseradish, turnips, radish and cucumbers. A part of carrots, swede and turnips was left for the seeds.
The gardens were in care of rural population as the so called ‘daremszczyzna’ (additional benefits of the peasants to the lord), extra work not included in serfdom. Also in the gardens, next to the vegetables, there were also many fruit-trees. Among the fruit-trees dominated mainly pear, cherry, apple and plum trees.
Hop played the important role in Wierzchosławice grange and was connected with highly developed...