The Czartoryski Archive

Pelkinie Park -- Historical Sketch

PELKINIE PARK --- HISTORICAL SKETCH\
Succession of Properties

Dr. Adam Czartoryski

The locality of Pełkinie is situated 7 km north of the city of Jarosław, at the road Jarosław---Leżajsk---Nisko---Sandomierz. The park and palace, however, are removed 2 km from the center of the village and 5 km from Jarosław. The name is used exclusively in the plural \[in Polish\], thus: we travel to Pełkinie, we stay in Pełkinie, etc. From the San River, Pełkinie is about 2 km away.

The park lies on the northern edge of the loess belt. The northern boundary of the park is simultaneously the boundary of deep loess deposits and the flat, extensive plain of predominantly sandy sands, partially waterlogged, called the Sandomierz Basin, heavily forested, containing within it the Sandomierz Forest. The very fertile and productive soil of the park has a wavy and varied topography. The area of the park is approximately 12 hectares.

The history of Pełkinie reaches back to the Middle Ages. In 1393, Queen Jadwiga, after her marriage to Władysław Jagiełło, gave the Kraków castellan Spytko from Melsztyn 3 cities: Jarosław, Przeworsk and Kańczuga along with a large tract of surrounding land, in reward for his services in preparing and accomplishing the first Union of Poland with Lithuania in Krewo. Pełkinie was also included in this grant. These lands were inherited, in the vast majority, by the heirs of the recipient through male and female descent until 1944. From 1731, thus for over 200 years, the Czartoryski family took possession of them as the dowry of Sophia from the Sieniawski family, who in that year married Augustus Czartoryski, Voivode of Ruthenia. Five generations of this family inherited this land from father to son. For almost the entire course of history, none of the proprietors lived in Pełkinie. It was the seat of the administration of the Jarosław cluster. Only in 1889, that is 99 years ago, did my parents, after their marriage, settle in Pełkinie, utilizing the old manor for their residence, and expanding it in the years 1895 and 1912/13. The old manor dates from the 17th century, as evidenced by its inventory from 1681, describing mighty thick walls and magnificent vaulted halls, preserved to this day. Currently, a home for the elderly of Jarosław city is located in the palace. It houses about 110 retirees of advanced age under the care of the Health Service.

From the year 1889 dates the establishment of the park, undertaken in an open field in a treeless area. Only close to the old manor was there a couple of trees, of which I still remember an elm and a linden. They were lost in the 1930s just before the Second World War. The elm was about 2 meters in diameter. The linden was even more massive. It was felled by a storm.

My father Witold planned and arranged the park in the field with its picturesque relief, along with the gardener Gajewski, who was a native of Poznań trained in Germany. He had previously established other parks, principally in the Rhineland, with great knowledge and feeling for topography, the values of trees and shrubs, and their spatial arrangement. He remained in Pełkinie for over 50 years until his death. The park layout can be roughly characterized as follows: about 40% of the area comprises dense groupings of trees and shrubs; about 60% are open spaces, designed to provide distant views and create the illusion of greater park space. On these open areas are distributed individual trees or small clumps that do not block views.

The first period after the park's establishment was characterized by enormous expansion of gray alder (Alnus incana), which, multiplying and spreading, took over the park terrain except for open spaces which were mowed as meadow. This forced radical reduction of it to preserve other species from being smothered. I do not remember this period. The final years before the First World War that I recall were already free of excess gray alder, although the park was being taken over by the next species---common spruce. It spread equally dynamically as the former alder, causing among other things a massive crop of chanterelle mushrooms, which we gathered as favorite delicacies. Around the period of the beginning of the First World War, the spruces were reduced to the extent that they no longer threatened other already-developed plantings.

A characteristic feature of inter-species relationships in the park is that in subsequent years, no tree species developed dynamic expansion. After approximately 25 years from the park's establishment, a relative equilibrium and stabilization of inter-species relationships occurred. What is also interesting is that even gray alder and spruce lost their dynamism. In the last 40 years I have not had the opportunity to follow the succession of tree stands in the Pełkinie park. I was there only cursorily two or three times, though I was kindly received by the then director of the Home for the Elderly, Mr. engineer Jaworski, under whose care was also the park and Pełkinie gardens. The last time I was there was probably nearly 20 years ago. For this reason, I am not able to provide a description of the present condition of the park. I wish therefore to focus primarily on those species which did not withstand the lack of care and post-war neglect, but were important elements in the park. Placing the Pełkinie park under legal protection did not fulfill its task. For example, a linden blown over by wind lay untouched for several years, waiting for permission to remove it from the park. The planting of the palace with spruces from the south side, almost under its windows---while showing some initiative---represents an image of complete ignorance and lack of spatial feeling, bordering on barbarism! I might add that this spruce planting looks poor. Among tree species that were no longer in the park after the war, in the first place I put the splendid species: Catalpa speciosa, whose specimens still during the Second World War looked simply impressive, with spreading crown, magnificent foliage together with incomparable bunches of beautiful flowers. I consider this catalpa species the most ornamental tree that can grow in our climate. They withstood---surprisingly---the harsh winter of the century in 1928/29 without the slightest damage, while at that time so many other trees in the Pełkinie park perished. Only the wood---contrary to literature data---was very resistant to decay. Rot in the trunk developed very quickly after its damage, and the tree required special care and careful crown shaping. All perished---there is no trace of them. Catalpa bignonioides grew as semi-shrub, semi-tree with sparse foliage and much less ornamental flowers. This one survived to today and does not stand out in anything special. It is possible that Catalpa speciosa requires particularly fertile soil to develop so magnificently as in the Pełkinie park. Other specimens of this species I know, planted in the lowland, developed much more slowly and perhaps for this reason did not gain themselves the proper place in Polish dendrological literature. Pinus strobus (Weymouth pine) grew here rapidly; it only suffered from rust, which took over all quite numerous specimens in the park, moreover without great damage to them. Of numerous conifers from the rich collection of species and varieties, little remained. The specimens of Juniperus virginiana developed most handsomely; beautiful trees grew above the pond. Aesculus parviflora, a widely spread shrub, so distinguished by Anthony Wróblewski during his frequent visits to Pełkinie, also perished.

The Pełkinie park was very carefully tended from the moment of its establishment and was surrounded by constant care by my father with great knowledge and feeling. Especially during vacations, along with his sons, he shaped individual trees, trying to give each species its natural form and regular crown, guaranteeing long life to properly-formed trees. Forked branches were especially not tolerated, which ends sooner or later in their splitting, thus disfigurement and the beginning of their end. Damage and beginning rot of trunk or branches was treated surgically. Cavities were filled. This technique was continuously improved. My father's sons carried this out personally under his direction. Father published two works as a result of these experiences:

1. On Pruning Free-standing Trees in the Yearbook of the Dendrological Society, and

2. On Surgical Treatment of Trees.

Work in tree care continued intensively throughout the interwar period with great passion and devotion on our part.

Finally, I wish to mention some of the more interesting trees that have survived to the present day, withstanding neglect or lack of care and bearing the competition of their neighbors: a cluster of lindens---today they are over a hundred years old, my parents received them as saplings, it was a wedding gift in 1889. They grow healthily, though not tall, and have borne abundantly in recent years. The group of Douglas firs presents itself splendidly today, worth paying attention to. Among the group of American oaks stands out a rarely found Quercus sessiliflora Loettei (manual note "currently Q. petrea Mespilifolia"). Large-leaved lindens growing in the middle of the lawn have developed into handsome trees. One was broken by the wind. I will mention also Turkish hazels, planted within my memory after the First World War, probably about 70 years old. Phellodendron amurense, on the other hand, grows very slowly, still perhaps vegetates; the climate or environment in which it grows does not suit it. Between the palace and the stables walnuts still grew after the war, Juglans nigra and cinerea, they looked healthy.

The Pełkinie park had in its neighborhood tree nurseries, which were gradually expanded, especially after the First World War. The principal seed supplier was the firm Rafn and Son in Copenhagen, possessing a large selection of them, providing seed provenance, elevation above sea level, place of collection, geographic latitude, average temperatures and annual precipitation. A solid and reliable firm that appears to have been liquidated after the last war. Among domestic suppliers, Gołuchów initially led, followed also partially by Kórnik and the Castle Nurseries. Some species were brought in the form of seeds or saplings from specimens particularly beautiful, selected by my father personally for that purpose from other parks. I must still mention the Pełkinie yews. The winter of 1928/29 caused the extinction of probably all specimens. After that winter, many were planted again, mainly as undergrowth under old trees. Those that were introduced near the grotto above the palace seemed to me after the war destined for extinction, overcome and smothered by a dense undergrowth of flowering lilacs (now called lilacs). In the seventies it turned out that the yews had withstood the smothering and began to exceed the lilacs in height. Today they have probably surpassed them. It is worth checking.

One of the tallest and most robust tree species in the park was Abies sibirica, coming from Gołuchów and called by us Gołuchów firs. They all perished during the harsh winter of 1928/29.

Forty years from the park's establishment passed without any harsh winter. They were generally snowy, causing no significant damage to the park, for example Thujopsis dolabrata had time to grow into a robust tree. Only the winter of 1928/29 forced us to be more careful in selecting planting material, especially since harsh winters repeated themselves many times afterward and discouraged us from introducing species sensitive to frost. Today the Pełkinie park is much poorer in species, incomparably poorer than in former days, but still presents an object worthy of visiting.