October 18: The birthday of Andrei Bolotov, the popularizer of potatoes
In Tula Dvoryaninov was born Andrey Bolotov. One of the fathers of Russian agronomy. Botanist, writer, memoirist. Popularizer of the potato—"tartofel"—and tomato in Russia.
With what great and incomprehensible wisdom all things in the world are arranged
Childhood and military service
His father served in the Arkhangelsk Regiment as a colonel. At age 10, he was enlisted in the same regiment as a quartermaster. His father personally taught his son arithmetic, geography, German, and French. When he died, the 13-year-old sergeant was placed on leave due to his youth.
In his native village, he read a lot and practiced drawing. He was 14 when his mother died. At 17, he returned to the regiment. At 19, as a second lieutenant, he fought in the Seven Years' War. When Russian troops occupied Prussia, he was sent to KoenigsbergHe became a clerk in the Königsberg prison—his knowledge of the language came in handy. He became acquainted with potatoes:
In all the villages near our camp, huge vegetable gardens were sown and planted, and as it began to ripen around this time and was already suitable for consumption, our soldiers soon got wind of it, and in an instant it was in all the cauldrons
Nobody knew how to cook the vegetable properly, and many people came down with diarrhea.
He rose to the rank of lieutenant. In his spare time, he attended philosophy lectures at the university. After his accession to the throne Peter III Went to Petersburg with the rank of captain. I didn't like it in the capital.
I had the opportunity... to observe the life of noble and great boyars, and to observe it to the point that I felt disgust for it and for everything I saw.
Peter III's Manifesto "On the Freedom of the Nobility" freed the nobility from compulsory military service, and Bolotov retired. He retired to his estate near Tula and took up farming, using the scientific books he had purchased in Prussia. He studied nature, conducted experiments, invented and improved equipment, and implemented waste-free production.
How Bolotov got peasants used to potatoes
He began to popularize the potato, believing that, with its nutritional qualities and high yield, it should be part of the diet and serve as a new source of income for peasants. They were wary of the foreign vegetable: they used the flowers for decoration but refused to eat them.
Bolotov resorted to a ruse. He posted guards near the potato field. Occasionally, he let them go. The locals dug up the roots out of curiosity. Little by little, they got a taste.
Educating the public, he wrote articles for the Free Economic Society on the benefits of potatoes and published a scientific paper, "Notes on Potatoes." He recommended white and red varieties:
[The white one] will be born larger and have a slightly better taste than the red one, and it will also be much more floury; on the contrary, the red one is more fertile and will be born in much larger quantities.
I came up with a potato chip alternative by baking potato chips. And a bouillon cube alternative—"dry soups" that can be diluted with boiling water.
Legend has it that he personally proved the safety of tomatoes—they were also considered poisonous back then. After his son accidentally ate one, he cut it into four pieces and ate them 15 minutes apart. He survived, admitting they were delicious. He began to promote a new crop.
Bogoroditsk and the "Economic Store"
In 1776 he was appointed manager of the Bogoroditskaya and Bobrikovskaya volosts, which were part of the estate Catherine II (later owned by her son Grigory Orlov, Alexey Bobrinsky). Conducted in Bogoroditsk For over 20 years. He created the first landscape park in Russia. He published the magazine "Rural Resident." He contributed to "Moskovskie Vedomosti" and wrote 4000 articles for his own "Economichesky Magazin."
He substantiated the advantages of the pasture farming system—the alternation of herbaceous and cultivated plants on the same plot of land: grasses and manure from grazing animals acted as fertilizers, preventing erosion.
If only water served as food for plants, they would all migrate to water.
He was the first Russian pomologist (variety specialist): he described 660 varieties of apples and pears. He personally sketched each variety.
He recorded meteorological observations daily for 52 years.
The Life and Adventures of Andrei Bolotov
In 1789, he began and spent 27 years writing the multi-volume "Life and Adventures of Andrei Bolotov." These "notes" contain a wealth of material on the history of Russian life, the domestic and social life of the nobility, military service, agriculture, culture, and politics.
He died at his estate, three days short of his 95th birthday.
