THE POLISH GRAIN TRADE 203In terms of the total grain exports, the Lubomirski latifundium varied in the
period 1663-1750 from a minimum of 13 lasts, 11 bushels in 1713 to a maximum
of 52.2 lasts, 18 bushels in 1729. The statistical average is around 127 lasts per
annum for those years in which something was exported. The over-all average
would be nearer 50 lasts. In themselves, these averages are rather meaningless.
But they do contrast very strikingly with the average of 533 lasts exported annu-
ally in the years 1614-49 before the recession, by the Lubomirski estates from a
somewhat different territorial base. And they do give a very rough idea of the
scale of magnatial grain operations at that time.
The 'social origin' of grain is a problem which greatly exercises historians in
Poland at present, without offering any satisfactory solution. If the calculation
of magnatial production, for which there are fairly complete records, is so com-
plicated - how much more imprecise must calculations about the gentry or peas-
antry be, when one has to work without adequate documentation and without
any clear economic criteria for distinguishing one class from another. Nor, in
quantitative operations, is it easy to make deductions from the known to the
unknown. It does not follow that a 'middle nobleman' owning 3 villages in the
vicinity of a magnatial complex of 15 villages, would necessarily have produced
grain or grain for sale in proportionate quantities. Economic success responds
in geometric progression to the total resources available. Given comparable pro-
duction methods, unfavourable conditions, which halved the magnate's surplus,
could well drive the medium-sized producer from the market altogether and
could put the peasant on the breadline. Similarly, favourable conditions which
gave the peasant a sack of corn to sell, might give the nobleman a shipload, and
might fill the granaries of the magnate for a decade. But again, production
methods were not comparable.
Despite these forceful reservations, studies on the production of Polish grain
have produced some interesting results, provoking a lively discussion parallel to
the debate on the Rise, or Fall, of the Gentry in England.^5 From this, it now
seems clear that the magnatial producers enjoyed no special advantage in the
grain trade, certainly not before 1650. It is also clear that regional differences
were considerable. A detailed study of the Wloclawek toll-books between 1537
and 1576 has shown that the heartland of the grain supply lay in Wielkopolska,
Kujawy, and Mazowsze, which were all areas where great landed fortunes were
signally sparse. Royal Prussia, too, whose grain boom seems to have spanned
the years 1570-1620, made a large and regular contribution, whereas Matopol-
ska, Volhynia, and Podolia only contributed in favourable years.
Having grown his corn, however, the producer had still to take it to Danzig,
since delivery at the 'Green Bridge' was usually the producer's responsibility
under the terms of the contract. In modern times, the only efficient way to trans-
port grain in bulk was by water.
Danzig was connected with the interior by a complex network of rivers. All
the main tributaries of the Vistula - the Narew, Pilica, Bug, Wieprz, Wistok,
Dunajec, and San were navigable. All possessed river ports, called pali -