Fruit production in the settlements of the Eger wine region from the middle of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century

Carrying out a historical statistical analysis of fruit production is a relatively difficult task, as the sector played a complementary role in traditional peasant farming; it appeared only rarely in trade and tax-related resources, and it was not only after its increase in market share that state agricultural statistics paid attention to it. The national agricultural censuses of 1895 and 1935 recorded the fruit tree population of the individual settlements in a distribution by species. Their data, supplemented by other sources (county monographs, contemporary press materials, etc.), are suitable for assessing the significance of the sector and for analyzing changes at the turn of the century. In the settlements of the Eger wine region, traditional varieties of fruit production, characterized by combined cultivation (e.g. fruit trees planted between vine rows) and a high proportion of less demanding species, began to fade into the background only slowly; there was, however, a shift towards market-oriented more intensive production.