JlTtTHER KORTICULTl'RAL ObgERVATIONg DI YUGOSIAVIA 



As cne travels ever the rough reads cf Yugoslavia, rfhere many farm practices 

 have changed little T/ith the passir^ conturies_, he is frequently impressed with the 

 ingenuity of the farmer and his acccmplishirents through long hours of patient toil^ 

 In a larji admittedlj' baclnvardj v/here in many respects it seems that the \fcrld has 

 stood still_, there are gccd examples cf skill, intelligence and a knack in coopera- 

 ting ivith nature « These tv/c ctservations will illustrate what vre moanc 



On a sir^ll farm in Bccnia (and more than 60^ cf the farir^ are of less than 

 12 acres), the peasant has an apple orchard and many of the apples are made into by- 

 products. But money v,^6 lacking to buy a cider press, even if one -virere available o 

 So the peasant m^de his cnrn preos entirely of vrocd, and \fith ordinary hand tools, 

 including an ax. For crushing the apples he hollcw'ed cut a log, susperjding over it 

 a heavy block of wood which was attached to one end of a pole, Tdth count er\Teight, 

 balanced over a fulcrum. With little effort the block could be moved up and dovm, 

 crushing a bushel of apples in the process « The press itself was bidLlt en a simple 

 wccdscrew principle, the ty;-o screv^s at either side being operated by a vrocden lever^ 

 I'/hen the pressing was completed the cider was boiled over a wood fire until it 7ms 

 reduced to a thick syrup, w'e sampled the product and f cird it very goodo 



In one cf the Fruit Institutes, grape vines were being grafted by a method 

 not previously observed. It was late spring ar^i growth was yrell under way. The vine 

 vms cut off twc or three feet above the ground, scions of the nevr variety inserted, 

 and the wound wrapped vrith a strip of heavy paper to form a "cup" and tied vrith a 

 viTillcv/ twig^ The "cup" was then filled vdth sand. As the sap oozed from the wound 

 the sand became thoroughly wet, thus p/oventing any drying of the scion or the vine 

 into which it was inserted, A surprisingly large percentage of the grafts vrere said 

 to grow Yfhere this method was used* Grape vines are scjcetimes grafted in the U, S, 

 by cutting the vine off belcvf ground level and then mounding soil over the ■v/our^i. 

 The mothod described above accomplishes the same result, and it v/ill be noted that 

 materials at harii (sard, vdllow twig, etc») are used, as was the case vdth the peasant 

 building a sider press. 



In a country with abundant supplies of vrcod of different kiniis, and with ur^ 

 developed industries, it is only natural that all sorts of uses are f ourjl for vegeta- 

 tion grovrir^ along the highway, streams, and in the forest, ..'illOT is used in tying 

 stravf or cornstalks around the trunks cf young fruit trees in the fall to protect 

 them against a large species of rabbit, in making baskets, as a subtitute for lath 

 in farm buildings, and on a very large scale willov/ tmgs are woven together to make 

 fences, "v/e saw many miles of this kind of fence, T^/ags cf certain hardv;ocds are 

 used 5.S a substitute for bfoomcorn in making household brooms, and coarser tvrigs are 

 invariably used in brooms used for sweeping streets. No brooms of the kind used in 

 the U, S, were seen, Hardvfoods are also used in making very sturdy baskets for trans- 

 porting apples, potatoes, etc, on the backs of donl^eys or horses, Tvto baskets, hold- 

 ing two or three bushels of apples each, so constructed that they would balance on 

 either side cf a horse, were observed in use on a small farm in 3osnia« 



The Yugoslavian peas ant has very little cash income. His farm is of the sub- 

 sistence type. All farms have livestock, including sheep, and homemade vrocHen cloth- 

 ing is seen- every/rhere » .."ith no mechanization, the private farmer and his f anily 

 work from daylight till dark \-d.th hand tools (a heavy hoe instead of a harrow) on a 

 very few acres, to eke out a precarious existence. Tea is scarce and expenave* So 

 they brew the leaves of a bassvrood tree as a substitute. Home processing of fruits 

 and vegetables is fairly common and many peasants have crude equipment for dryir^g 

 prunes and for making plum brandy (slivovica). There are seme opportunities for sup- 



