1880s - "little bundles of seeds from home" - Russian Contributions To Agriculture In America

Russian farm scene showing thatched-roof buildings, with horses and barn in left foreground

The Great Plains of the United States gladly welcomed people from Russia who understood how to farm  the land so similar to their homeland.  This article introduces the many varieties of plants that the agronomists quickly embraced. 

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RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO AGRICULTURE IN AMERICA

 AND AMERICA'S POSSIBLE GIFTS TO RUSSIA

By D. N. BORODIN, Agricultural Explorer of the RUSSIAN BUREAU OF APPLIED BOTANY

RUSSIAN immigrants to America have contributed markedly to the development of agriculture in

wheat - Fuchs

the United States. Up to the time of their appearance in the Great West, North America did not have any suitable grains and other agricultural products for that territory which has a smaller rainfall than the Eastern States.

The dark grey mass of Russian immigrants walking down the gangplank to the pier after a long trip across the ocean carried unwieldy packs filled with all manner of things full of memories, and at the bottom of each of those sacks was sure to be found a bundle containing precious seeds of plants grown back home. 

The Mennonite from Molochnaya and other colonies of Crimea and Ekaterinoslav Province brought with him Crimean, Turkey Red and Kharkov wheats and Kherson oats. The Molokans brought Sandomirka and Kustavka wheats. The natives of Kiev Province brought flax, sunflower, proso (millet) as well as wheat, and the seeds of watermelon and of Russian flowers. After much roving and much labor, the day at last arrived when the Russian immigrant farmer could apply his labor on his own land in a new country. And now the little bundles of seeds from home were carefully unknotted, and calloused, horny hands threw the Russian seeds with prayers into the soil of the New World. . . .

In the eastern United States, which have a moist climate, the first crops raised by the early settlers were the wheats, oats and rye from England, France and other countries of similar climates. A hundred years passed and the first pioneers began to move westward, where they found the prairie dry and inhospitable to the plants of the moister East. Consequently, for a number of years, cattle breeding was the main occupation in the Great Plains. 

Agriculture did not develop until the Russian immigrant seeking his Ivanovka, his Molochnaya, his Crimea and Caucasus,—his own "life-zone,"-—found also the life-zone of the plant-immigrants from theRussian steppes,—the drought-resisting varieties needed for the plains.

In the history of this plant immigration we have four stages: (1) Importation of seeds by Russian immigrants to be used on soil similar to that of their homeland; (2) this fact noted by American agriculturists and proper value placed upon the adaptability of Russian seeds to the Great Plains of the United States; (3) special expeditions to Russia for seeds and plants undertaken by private individuals (as Bernard Warkentin) from among the immigrants, and by the American Agricultural Explorers: N. E. Hansen, M. A. Carleton, F. Meyer, H. L. Bolley and others; (4) selection and hybridization of Russian varieties at American Experimental Stations which led to their improvement in different respects and their adaptation to local conditions.

The more prominent Russian wheats which have thus been introduced into the United States are Fife, first brought into Canada by private individuals as early as 1848 and later carried over into the States; Kubajika and Arnautka, the usual Durum wheats in South Dakota; and Turkey Red, also known as Crimean, Kharkov, or Malakhof, which is the variety best suited for territories subject to periodic drought. 

Regarding the introduction of the latter, Mr. M. A. Carleton, an American authority on this subject, writes as follows: 

"The first settlements in Kansas were made in 1873 near Norton, Halstead and Moundridge. Each family brought over a bushel or more of Crimean wheat for seed and from this seed was grown the first crop of Kansas hard winter wheat. . . . Later on, several lots of Turkey Red or Crimean wheat were imported by the Department of Agriculture from the Molokhan district of Taurida."

Oats were also brought in from Russia. Kherson, one of the best-known varieties, is planted

Nees von Esenbeck, TFL,
Plantae officinales - 1828 to 1833

especially in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and southern Wisconsin. The State of Iowa, through the efficient work of its Experiment Station, is now able to supply other States with this seed. Kherson oats are also known as Wisred and Sixty-day. Other Russian oats were brought later by the Call Agricultural Agency of St. Louis. The Experiment Station at Madison, Wis., has marked this variety "White Russian." The "Swedish Select" variety, which constitutes 75 per cent of the oats of the State of Minnesota, was imported from Russia. Oats have also been brought from Siberia and are known under the names of Tobolsk, Tatartan, Siberian, etc. An excellent illustration of the Russian contribution to United States agriculture was afforded last summer when a drought in several States bordering Wisconsin reduced the yield of all varieties of oats except those which had been brought over from Russia.

As a result of selection and hybridization, many Russian plants have undergone changes and have been improved to such an extent that they now present desirable varieties for re-importation into Russia. Many Russian staples, such as wheat, oats, alfalfa, etc., may find themselves in the position of the sunflower, that native of America which was imported into Russia a century or so ago and developed under the new conditions into an entirely different plant from its wild-weed ancestor (Helianthus annuus) of the North Western United States. After its Russian development it came back to America via Novorossiisk, Odessa and the Baltic ports, and now flourishes in Wisconsin, North Dakota and Montana under the names of Russian Mammoth and Russian Giant.

The United States of America have found in Russia (because of similar climatic conditions) the plants necessary for their Northwest and the Great Plains. Let us hope that these regions will reciprocate. Among America's possible gifts to Russia may be counted the new variety of hard spring wheat known as "Marquis," not long ago emigrated from Canada, which was noticed on p. 29 of World Agriculture (Vol. I, No. 2). Besides Marquis, the Durum varieties, Kubanka and Arnautka, mentioned above, and a Canadian wheat, North Manitoba, are now being sent to Russia as seed for the famine regions.

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World Agriculture, Volumes 1-7

World Agriculture Corporation, 1919