Andrey Timofeyevich Bolotov (18 October 1738 – 16 October 1833) was the most prolific

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

and the most distinguished

agriculturist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the U ...

of the 18th-century

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Bolotov was born and spent most of his adult life in the family estate of Dvoryaninovo, in the Tula

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

to the south of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. He was brought up by his parents in

Livland Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

, where his father's regiment was stationed. After taking part in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

he settled into retirement in Dvoryaninovo. During his life there, he brought out a pioneering manual on

crop rotation Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. It reduces reliance on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, and the probability of developing resistant ...

and elaborated an innovative system of

pomology Pomology (from Latin , “fruit,” + ) is a branch of botany that studies fruit and its cultivation. The term fruticulture—introduced from Romance languages (all of whose incarnations of the term descend from Latin and )—is also used. Pomol ...

which included more than 600

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s of apple and pear. Always interested in

plant breeding Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It has been used to improve the quality of nutrition in products for humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce cro ...

, Bolotov discovered

dichogamy Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropods, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes its sex at some point in its life. In particular, ...

of apple-trees and pointed out to the advantages of

cross-pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, ...

. Bolotov's works brought him to the attention of Count Orlov, who asked him to manage the neighbouring estate of

Bobriki Novomoskovsk (russian: Новомоско́вск) is a city and the administrative center of Novomoskovsky District in Tula Oblast, Russia, located at the source of the Don and Shat Rivers. Population: 143,000 (1974); 107,000 (1959); 76,000 ...

, where

Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

's illegitimate son, Count

Bobrinsky The Counts Bobrinsky or Bobrinskoy (''Бобринские'') are a Russian noble family descending from Count Aleksey Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762–1813), who was Catherine the Great's natural son by Count Grigory Orlov. The first Count Bob ...

, was being raised. Bolotov turned Bobriki into the most up-to-date agricultural estate in provincial Russia and ensured the keen interest which later Counts Bobrinsky would take in agriculture. Bolotov was also active in the

Free Economic Society Free Economic Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and Husbandry (russian: Вольное экономическое общество) was Russia's first learned society which formally did not depend on the government and as such came to ...

, which published his treatise on

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

. Together with

Nikolay Novikov Nikolay Ivanovich Novikov (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Новико́в) (, Moscow Governorate – . Moscow Governorate) was a Russian writer and philanthropist most representative of his country's Enlightenment. Frequently cons ...

, he edited the journals ''The Village Resident'' (1778–79) and ''The Magazine of Economics'' (1780-89), which brought him the income of 400 roubles a year, a very considerable sum for the time. His extensive memoirs, entitled ''Life and Adventures of Andrei Bolotov, in 26 parts'' and written between 1789 and 1816, went through several editions and were translated into English. Bolotov died in Dvoryaninovo aged 94. Thomas Newlin wrote of him:

Andrey Timofeevich Bolotov stands out as the most prolific writer that Russia has ever produced, penning, by one estimate, the equivalent of some 350 volumes of written material—memoirs, diaries, letters, poems, plays, criticism, and translations, as well as a vast array of other works of literary, philosophical, religious, didactic, scientific, agricultural, and historical natures—over the course of his long and quietly astonishing career. During his lifetime Bolotov achieved a modest measure of recognition as a writer on agricultural and horticultural issues; he is best known today, however, for his massive emoirs Because only a relatively small portion of what he wrote found its way into print ..Bolotov, despite his phenomenal productivity and his considerable originality as a writer, ended up having virtually no influence on the development of Russian belle-lettres.Thomas Newlin, "Andrey Timofeevich Bolotov," in Marcus C. Levitt (ed.), ''Early Modern Russian Writers: Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' (Gale Research, 1995; ), pp. 37-38.

Notes

References

* Berdyshev, A. P., ''А. Т. Болотов - первый русский учёный агроном.'' Moscow, 1949. * Newlin, Thomas, ''The Voice in the Garden: Andrei Bolotov and the Anxieties of Russian Pastoral, 1738-1833'', Northwestern University Press, 2001, {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolotov, Andrey Russian agriculturalists Russian memoirists Journalists from the Russian Empire Russian male journalists Male writers from the Russian Empire Biologists from the Russian Empire Inventors from the Russian Empire 1738 births 1833 deaths 18th-century agronomists 19th-century agronomists