The Bulgarian gardening at Pécs

A review

Abstract

The Bulgarian gardeners first came to Hungary in the second half of the 19th century. Bulgarian gardening (market gardening) as a concept became generally accepted in connection with their production. It means a watering, tillage-land market gardening. The gardeners who settled down in Pécs in 1878 belonged to the first generation. Until the Second World War other newcomers came by instalments. Their production followed the Hungarian eating habits and so it changed significantly. The Bulgarian gardening carries a lot of cultural marks, the traditions of the 5–6 thousand years old irrigation gardening, the Roman, Turkish and the climatic and natural effects, to which they had to conform to in Bulgaria. The foundation of the Bulgarian gardening in the Hungarian agriculture meant a progressive step. The provision of the Hungarian towns with the gardening products was undisturbed and cheap because the producing technology of the Bulgarian gardening not only raised the efficiency but it produced ten times more products in a unit area than the Hungarian peasants. Their great diligence is clearly shown by the fact discovered by economists that 10 million gold crowns were exported from Hungary in the Monarchy era without any compensation.