In the first half of the 19th century, the village of Marfino was located on the territory of the Tambov province. Today this settlement, belonging to the Dobrinsky district of the Lipetsk region, was named Buninskoye. Once upon a time, Nikolai Anatolyevich Bunin was born and lived here - a Russian landowner, ethnographer, publicist, public figure.
Marine service
Nikolai was born into the family of a small-country nobleman, retired warrant officer Anatoly Dmitrievich Bunin. Historians doubt the exact date of his birth and call it 1783 or 1784. In his youth, Bunin entered the Navy. In 1796, as a fourteen-year-old teenager, he began to receive education in the Naval Cadet Corps. Two years later he was promoted to midshipmen. Bunin began his service in the Baltic Sea on the ships "Gleb" and "Nikolay". In 1801, he was awarded the rank of midshipman and sent to the ship "Speedy", which is being built at the capital's shipyard. Further service of the knowledgeable and zealous midshipman took place on the ships "St. Peter" and "Emgeiten", but in 1806 he did not pass certification due to poor health. Together with the dismissal, Nikolai's naval career ended and work on the ground began.
In the estate
At first glance, Marfino looked unattractive. In addition to the central estate, the landowner's estate included the villages of Tikhvinskoye, Nikolaevskoye and the Bunin-Kolodets farm. Gardens were planted in the middle of the steppe, there was no river, but vast ponds appeared, low one-story houses - not the slightest claim to beauty. In the family estate, Bunin lived with his sister and her husband. In a short period of time, Nikolai became an outstanding owner and made a great contribution to the development of the agrarian business.
The activities of the young landowner aroused the surprise and distrust of neighbors. The methods of management "based on rational principles of great practical experience" were unfamiliar to them. The fields in Marfino were fenced in with hedges on a rampart and protected from possible livestock intrusion. Bunin quite often changed the varieties of bread in the fields, and between them he left pure steam after plowing twice. Unlike his neighbors, the landowner used the latest tools of labor: plows, seeders, threshers. He subscribed to them from abroad or acquired in Russia. In a short time, Marfino turned into one of the exemplary estates not only in the Tambov region, but throughout Russia.
A very unusual relationship developed between the landowner and the serfs. A Prussian official who visited the estate wrote that the owner and the peasants "are on good terms with each other." Bunin established daily corvee norms for men and women, the peasants worked three times a week. The German noted their diligence and speed. Friends called Bunin "the ideal of the best landowner under serfdom." Properly organized activities led to the fact that the family, which possessed a hundred souls of peasants, became unprecedentedly rich. However, it could not do without punishment, mainly corporal. Sister Varvara was especially stern. She was subordinate to the servants, with them she was not cruel, but very strict.
The crowded maiden Barbara resembled a factory for the manufacture of women's handicrafts, carpets, fabrics and lace weaving. Women's work required organization and discipline. The girls endured beatings, punishment, and even hair cutting. A German guest, sharing his impressions, wrote that if the sovereign could organize the work of the landowners in this way, then serfdom would not have to be abolished. Nikolai Anatolyevich himself was an ardent opponent of serfdom.
Multi-field crop rotation
For the first time in this area, Nikolai applied an unprecedented crop rotation. Each year the land is sown with different crops. In the first year he planted winter wheat, in the second - barley and millet, the third year the land was left under pure fallow. Bunin used manure as a fertilizer - "the earth was fertilized strongly."The landowner made sure that the peasants adopted his style of farming, but this did not matter to the owners of neighboring estates. This was followed by a year when the field was sown with rye, then buckwheat and then resting on the ground. After that, in the spring, the land was fertilized and potatoes were planted, which were not popular with local landowners. It was replaced by a harvest of spring wheat, and then oats. After resting, the cycle was repeated.
In 1832, Nikolai Bunin's book about all the innovations in farming was published. Before modern agriculture, he set the task of obtaining cheap agricultural products and overcoming the disastrous state of the farmers.
Social activity
In 1819, fellow countrymen chose Bunin as the leader of the Usman district nobility. He held this post for nine years. Bunin initiated the opening of a district school. The landowner personally attended the opening of the educational institution. He insisted that the training be free, and in the future provided the school with material support. A few years later, on his instructions, a hospital was opened in the district. For this activity, fellow countrymen awarded Nikolai Anatolyevich the title of "honorary guardian and benefactor." The landowner took an active part in the work of the Moscow and Lebedyansk agricultural societies.
Bunin loved and knew his land. In 1836, the magazine "Ministry of Internal Affairs" published his description of the life of the Usman district of the Tambov region. The "exemplary landowner and owner" was known in the capital, he was consulted in state bodies, the ministers corresponded with him and listened to his opinion. Several of his published works on the improvement of agriculture and the cultivation of various types of bread on black soil have also survived.
Nikolai Anatolyevich died in 1857, only a few years before the abolition of serfdom. He never had time to see in reality his dream of freeing the peasants. A hundred years later, it was considered that the village of Marfino had no further development paths, and it disappeared from the Russian maps. The biography of the famous landowner testifies that there are no "unpromising" lands, the reason lies in the mediocre policy of careless owners.
