Švietimo epochos atgarsiai Lietuvos dvarų ūkinėje dokumentacijoje

Land cadastre, durable crop rotation, better agricultural equipment and more efficient equipment differentiated Lithuanian estates, weakened serfdom and brought the estates closer to the needs of the emerging agricultural market. In Sweden, like in other Scandinavian states, durable crop rotation was first used in the mid-18th c.,whereas, Latvia and Estonia saw its first signs only in the late 18th c. Only in the 2nd–3rd decades of the 19th c. was it systematically applied, and in Poland it began spreading after the abolishment of serfdom by in 1807. The spread of novelties in peasant agriculture (flax, potato growing, breading of gardens, trade in cattle, running of pubs, promotion of the propination law and free trade, spread of crafts in rural areas, increasing references to blacksmiths, tubs, shoemakers, leather craftsmen) encouraged material inequality and preconditioned social differentiations. In addition, the increasing popularity of wage labour contributed to the above process, irrespective of the fact that it was impeded by the feudal tax policies, i.e. the poll tax, the recruit tax, the smoke tax and other tax burdens. Peasants were especially burdened by growing commitments to the estate, infertility, falling prices and frequent restrictions. For example, peasants were allowed to sell flax only in within their estate. In general, noblemen obliged peasants to buy or sell goods firstly in their estates or on a local market near the church. However, there were estates in Vilnius and closer to the Latvian border were peasants were allowed to engage in free trade. But the key factor impeding the majority of estates to progress to rational farming was still serfdom and the noblemen's unwillingness to abolish it. Only after the reform of 1861 did agriculture face the universal gradual transition to market conditions