Agriculture had slow beginnings. The farm implements were primitive and the wagons still had wooden axles. In the first years only the farm and little else was worked, the rest was hay land (meadows that were mowed) or pasture. Only gradually did the colonists convert the pastures into farm land. The German settlers switched more to grain production at the end of the 1830s.

Wooden plows and harrows were the initial field implements. The second generation replaced the wooden plow shares with metal ones. Metal plows became common in the 1840’s. The one-bottom (one-share) plow gradually was replaced with two-bottom and three-bottom plows. Much later, the six-bottom plow was developed and put to use.

Image 47: Plowing

People sowed by hand. The worker walked along the field, a sack of grain seed slung across the shoulder, and flung the seeds ahead of him. The density of the seeds was measured by the number of fingers used. Gradually hand sowing was replaced by sowing or rather drilling machines, which people loaned to each other.

The grain harvest began in July. Until the forties of the 19th century all the grain was cut with a sickle, bound into sheaves and placed on platforms. Scythes came into use in the 1840’s and as soon as the scythes were commonly used, one could see 10-15 workers working in rows behind and beside each other. The produce was no longer sheaved but arranged into Kopitzen Haufen (Kopitzen piles). This eliminated cutting open the sheaves on the farm.

In the 1870’s, mowing machines were invented and later the so-called self binders. All these implements increased farm productivity tremendously.

Image 48: Kopitzes

Image 49: Mowing with a Harvest Machine

After the harvest and the drying, the grain was brought by rack wagon to the threshing area at the farm.

Image 50: Harbi Wagon

Threshing took place in August. Grain was threshed on the threshing place, a circle prepared for the purpose by tamping down the ground solidly. See 3.5, Farm and Home of the Colonist.

In the first two decades, the threshing flail was used. Later, people began using horses to walk out the grain. A horse herd was brought to the threshing place and a man in the center used a whip to drive the herd across the sheaves until all the grain was threshed.

Image 51: Threshing stone

At the end of the 1840’s, a riffled stoneroller was used, called the Dreschstein (threshing stone) and four horses usually pulled it. This natural stone was dragged across a carpet of grain stalks and the stone turned corner over corner, pounding the grain out. After any of these three techniques was used, the straw was placed into a straw shed.

Image 52: Threshing Machine and Tractor

At the end of the 19th century, steam driven threshing machines came into use in Bessarabia. In 1910, four farmers from Krasna purchased steam threshing machines. They did not get put to use widely, since the traditional threshing method was cheaper and the service and repair for the machines was not readily available, either. The straw left behind was valuable to the farmer.

• It was used as bedding and fodder for the livestock.
• It was put into straw sacks, which served as mattresses in the beds.
• It was used to heat the heating and cooking stoves.
• It was used to run the steam mills and steam threshing machines.
• It was used as binding material for air tiles (Batzen).

Chaff and grain seeds left behind were pushed to the centre of the threshing arena and when the wind came up in the morning, the mixture was tossed into the air with pitchforks. The grain fell down first, the lighter weight chaff landed further away. It separated grain and chaff, but caused considerable losses. Later, the grain had to be cleaned more with a little sieve.

The cleaning mill was invented in the 1870’s and it replaced the pitchfork and wind method. Thus, the disadvantages of the pitchfork method were eliminated. The cleaning mill operated a winged wheel with a hand crank and the winged wheel created an air current. This air current blew off the chaff and the heavier grain fell down into an open sack. A shaker sieve added to the effectiveness of the apparatus. The chaff, used as livestock feed, was hauled into the chaff shed and the grain to the granary.

Image 53: A Cleaning Machine

Corn was harvested in the late fall and it was hard work. The ears were broken off the stalks and placed into a sack, slung over the shoulder. As soon as the sack was full, it was dumped out into a pile. Later, the corn was taken home by wagon.

In later years, the stalks were cut in the fields and hauled home. The livestock ate off the stalks, and the remains as well as the empty ears were used as heating material.

Bessarabian farmers did not fertilize their fields, neither with dung nor with commercial fertilizer, which was not even available in Bessarabia during the first decades. People believed fertilizer did more harm than good. If the weather was damp, fertilized grain shot up too tall and was flattened easily by even light winds or strong rainfall, which made it difficult to mow. If the summer was dry, all was scorched. This attitude may have been justified in the first decades of the colonies, since the virgin soil initially had plenty of nutrients, but as the soil was slowly leached out, harvest yields had to diminish.

The lectures of experts fell on deaf ears with the Krasna farmers (and their neighbors). Firstly, they were clinging to tradition and secondly they needed the dung for heating materials. It is a fact, though, that at the latest in the middle of the 20th century the lack of land and mechanization would have required fertilizing, if the Krasna farmers would have remained there. (See also remarks at the end of this segment).

In the first years: rye, wheat, barley and hirsute. Corn was cultivated around 1825. Initially there was also flax and hemp, the foundation of woven textiles.

From the middle of the 19th century onward, wheat, barley, some oats were planted. Much corn was also planted. From around 1870 onward, winter wheat was planted since it was especially well suited for the Krasna soil and it utilized the ground moisture of the cooler months. So-called Crimean Wheat was planted, first the Red Crimean. Later the White Crimean was added. After the initial slow years, the harvest results were excellent. 1906 and 1910 were outstanding wheat years and signalled the start into a better time. Steam threshing machines appeared in the village, a visible sign of wealth and many grain farmers became rich men.

After World War I, rapeseed was planted, imported from the Dobrudscha. The experiment with soy and cotton failed because of the water issue. Shortly before the Resettlement, discussions took place about trying this once again at the Kogälnik, where watering would have been easier.

During Russian times, potatoes were of little imoprtance and potato crops were not especially successful in Krasna. A lot of this had to do with the climate. There was not enough rain and potatoes were not especially well thought of as a food source. Only in the final years did potato farming increase in Krasna.

In Krasna, in 1940, the crops were mainly wheat, barley, corn (also called Welsh Corn or Kukuruz, and oil fruit such as rapeseed, etc. Rapeseed oil was used in the homes.
See village report 1940, 10, Documents, Reports, Facts

Initially, the settlers had their problems working the soil. They had to learn that the land formation, soil content and climate demanded different methods than what they were used to from Germany or Poland. ¹⁾ At the former homes of the colonists in Southwest Germany or Poland, there was hardly lack of rainfall, but the dry climate of Bessarabia confronted them with alien conditions. Forests, which could have offered protection from the winds that were drying out and destroying the seeds, were lacking. This was a distinct disadvantage to farming.

The three-field method was used in the colony of Krasna from the start: winter grain, summer grain, and haying and fallow fields. This method was successful after the first few years. The care of the soil was equally important; it was plowed several times a year to keep the weeds down.

Gradually the soil treatment methods became better. A gradual transition to a regular rotation of crops is noted in the colonies. From 1900 on, the fields were planted roughly like this: winter grain followed summer grain and then came corn, beets and soy. The latter were planted on about a third of the fields. The natural result was that weeds were kept down and the soil moisture was preserved, increasing the harvest yield.

Peeling the soil in the summer and deep plowing it in the fall, methods learned gradually, people could counteract failed harvests even in years with poor rainfall. The soil was loosened deeply with the deep plowing method and much moisture was conserved. Eduard Ruscheinsky: ²⁾ Our fathers declared war on drought. They conserved winter moisture in the soil and prevented the evaporation of the moisture by harrowing the fields several times, which kept the top layers of the soil of a fine texture preventing capillary attraction. The repeated thorough plowing aired out the soil and kept it loose. In later years, deep plowing, also called Rigole method, strengthened the soil and increased harvest yields 80-100 percent.

Deep plowing required the use of at least four horses and this was one of the reasons why farmers who could not afford at least four horses had a hard time making a living.

Around 1870, Krasna agriculture progressed on the one hand by using winter wheat (See above) and by introducing more rational equipment. If the colonists did not invent these implements themselves, they were always the first to try new things. The Krasna farmers did so, as well, as seen above by using sowing machines, threshing and mowing machines and innovative methods of plowing etc.

A revolutionary innovation was the tractor, which came to Krasna as well, as a note in the Staats-Anzeiger newspaper report dated December 31, 1929: This spring Joseph Neumann and Rochus Fenrich, son of Mathias, purchased a tractor, each for the remarkable sum of 220,000 lei. Each of them made a downpayment of 25,000 lei and the rest was supposed to be paid in monthly installments. After three weeks of use, the tractors quit working. Joseph Neumann returned his machine to the dealer and lost his downpayment. Rochus Fenrich demanded his downpayment back and is keeping the tractor in the interim.
It was not possible to find out what came of this in the end. According to statements of the resettlement generation Krasna did not have tractors at the end of the 1930‘s. Reasons for this were the high costs of the investment and the unreliability of this equipment. Tractors offered then in Bessarabia had no fat rubber tires, but heavy metal wheels. These often got mired in up to the axles and barely had enough momentum left to drag the plow, as deep plowing required.

Bessarabian soil was excellent for grain, if there was enough rainfall. Harvest yields were satisfactory on the average, but could border on catastrophic in years with little rainfall. The results per hectare then cannnot compare with today’s yields. See 6.1, Catastrophes, Plagues, Failed Harvests, Animal Pests, Earthquakes

In the beginning, people had just enough grain for personal use. When surpluses were harvested after a few years, the grain could not be sold at home or in the immediate area. People were forced to take time off from threshing season and travel to Odessa, 140 kilometers distant. These arduous journeys lasted at least a week. Roads were poor and almost impassable in the rain. One had to take the ferry across the Dnjestr which could sometimes involve day-long waits. Back then, a trip to Odessa was an ordeal of a journey.
Later, people went to Akkerman, which was still 90 kilometers away, to Ismail, 60-70 kilometers and Kilia, where one got better prices and could return home with piping or wood. These were not available back home. These journeys were always hazardous since robbers also plied these roads and robbed the travellers.
After the train route Leipzig-Akkerman was established in 1914, loads could be taken to Beresina and Arzis, which was quite a relief.
See also 4.5.1, Traffic Infrastructure

In the final decades grain was mostly sold on location. Grain merchants were mostly Jewish people, but in the 20th century there were also villagers, German colonists, plying the trade. These merchants also offered transport of the grain by leases carriers, called Tschumaks. A lot of traveling salesmen, mostly Jewish people, came to the villages to buy livestock, goosedown, etc.

After annexation to Rumania, new ways and means had to be found to move agricultural and marketable products.

Assuring farm income aside from the harvest yield were the grain prices (See 4.7 Monetary and Banking Services). Harvest could be mediocre and prices high. Farmers could get actually a better profit than in record years with low prices. The German farmers could not influence the pricing until the 1920’s and had to sell for wahtever was offered. The founding of the farm association (See 5.4 Associations, Councils and Clubs) enabled them to stabilize the prices somewhat. A handicap still remained, since Rumania, to whch Krasna belonged now, was also an agricultural producer with grain excesses, which helped to keep prices in check.