A beet industry on Uman district lands in the late 19th – early 20th centuries according to newly discovered sources

Abstract

Abstract. Purpose. The aim is to show the problems of a beet industry on the basis of discovered publications about this
agricultural branch in Uman district of Kyiv province in the newspapers “Kievskoe slovoˮ and “Kievljaninˮ.
The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that the identified and systematized newspaper publications of the
specified topic form a new idea about the factors influencing the state of this branch of agricultural production. The determining
factor was not market demand, as it is traditionally believed, but reasons of an objective nature.
Conclusions. The systematization of fourteen publications from the newspapers “Kievskoe slovoˮ and “Kievljaninˮ for
1894 – 1915 about a beet industry in Uman district made it possible to show a wave-like character of interest of landowners
and landholders in sugar beet growing. This technical culture was the raw material for a sugar industry, which was constantly
developing in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries by means of manufacturing products for export. A growing need
for sugar beets predetermined high prices and profits for their cultivation. However, a beet growing process was extremely
challenging. There were the following problems: high price for imported seeds, a lack of labor force for the cultivation of
beet plantations, pests of beet crops, the dependence on weather conditions for growing and harvesting processes. In the
early 20th century some attempts were made at solving the issues connected with the provision of own sowing material and the
improvement of technical equipment of the raw material processing.
The originality is predetermined by two groups of factors. Firstly, the risks of sugar beet growing have been analyzed.
On the material of Uman district the examples of crop and non-crop years have been given. They were determined by weather
conditions, the presence of pests of beet crops, the insufficiency of labor force. The use of a microhistorical approach made it
possible to illustrate those problems, which were related to this agricultural branch. Secondly, the materials from periodical
press, which were discovered and introduced into scientific circulation, complement a source base of regional and agrarian
history of Ukraine.
Periodical press as a historical source needs a detailed study. It has a significant potential for singling out the
characteristics of well-known features and processes. The newspaper publications beside an informative importance are
valuable for the reflection of modern features with evaluations of that time. The interest is arisen by the sources of information
and evaluative judgments because they reflected public opinion in a certain time period.
Periodical press of Kyiv province of the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries requires a complex study which will
contribute to the enlargement of a source base of Ukrainian history.