Where are the trees and grasses in the villages of the Russian Empire

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

I often publish village photographs from the times of the Russian Empire and partly from the first half of the twentieth century. And one of the most popular comments, oddly enough, is the question: "why in the villages there is absolutely no vegetation, no tree, no blade of grass."

Cover photo by Zakhar Vinogradov: Volga region

I want to speculate on this topic.

General view of Lubochny Ryad and Meshcherskoye Lake. Nizhny Novgorod province, photo by Maxim Dmitriev

In general, this moment does not surprise me so much. I am now in a village in the Vologda Oblast, and you know, here, too, all the plots are empty, that is, without gardens and flower beds. And even birches or other local wild trees in the village itself are practically absent. Everywhere there is only short grass and vegetable gardens plowed up for potatoes.

Arkhangelsk Province, photo by Shabunin

But there are a lot of these trees in the neighboring forest: a couple of steps away from the village, and enjoy the rich vegetation, as much as you like.

Krasnoyarsk Territory, Turukhansk District, Verkhne-Imbatsk village, Early XX century, photo by Anuchin

Yes, in the south, where you stick a stick in the ground and it will bloom right away, there could well have been gardens and herbs right next to the village houses. However, I mainly show the North and Siberia.

Demyanov V. G. General view of the village of Arefyevo. Irkutsk region, Bratsk district, Arefyevo d.

There are huge areas in Russia with a rather difficult climate.

Volga region, photo by Zakhar Vinogradov

And in these places, people were more likely to pay attention to planting cereals and vegetables in the fields surrounding the village than to flowers and bushes in the local areas.

Irkutsk region, Again, the trees surrounding the buildings were probably the very first to go for firewood and the farm, and the grass was eaten up by cows, sheep, goats and other animals that the peasants kept.

Krasnoyarsk Territory, Turukhansk District, Verkhne-Imbatsk village, Beginning of the XX century. Anuchin Photos

But what can I say - in old photographs you come across houses in which even the straw has been removed from the roofs - it was used in bad years to feed livestock.

A poor man's house from a baroque forest. Krasnoyarsk Territory, Turukhansk district, s. Imbatskoe. Early 20th century

Naturally, any grass near the house in such conditions, first of all, was also used as fodder.

Just to illustrate the thatched roof: the hut of the Tatar Salovatov in the village of Kadomke, Sergach district. 1891-1892

And the rest that remained - on the streets between houses, was gradually trampled by people.

Arkhangelsk Province, photo by Shabunin

They lived in crowded villages in many villages.

"New" street. Krasnoyarsk Territory, Turukhansk District, Verkhne-Imbatsk village, Beginning of the XX century. Anuchin Photos

In general, these are my thoughts on this matter. What do you all think of this?