“How to grow and preserve Lemons, Chinese Apples and Laurel Trees with little Effort” (1724) – Horticulture Contributions to the Cultivation and Propagation of exotic Trees and Fruits („Wie man Citronen, Chineser-Aepffel und Lorbeer-Bäume mit leichter Muehe ziehen und erhalten kann“ (1724). – Horticulture-Beiträge zum Bezug und zur Verbreitung „welscher“ Bäume und Früchte)
Author : Wolfgang Wüst
Abstract :
Focusing primarily the Alps with its cultivated regions and trade routes for citrus fruits, the article follows a cross-border perspective from a southern German perspective. Some volumes committed to this out of the publication program of the well-known research community “Orangerien in Deutschland“. The focus was not on the alpine areas of the orangeries themselves, with the exception of the lakes Garda (“Lago di Garda”) and Como (“Lago di Como”). This must be emphasized, especially as there were important citrus locations in the hands of local nobles, monasteries, towns and monasteries in the early modern period. Rather, methodical approaches were of interest, such as those taken in the imperial city of Nuremberg by the horticulture expert Johann Christoph Vol(c)kamer, author of several early orangery manuals. He reported from practical experience on the sources of his networks and he advised and supplied politically influential institutions such as the noble “Losungsamt” in Nuremberg, on how to use imported or home-grown citrus plants, alongside flowers, gingerbread, almonds and sugar cookies, to make the world of decision-makers compliant. Where did his citrus plants and trees come from, in what quality and how were they transported? Did the Alpine region only play a transitory role for imports from the Mediterranean (Genoa, Venice) or were the climatically favorable regions around the large Alpine lakes not the better growing areas for Germany? There, people specialized in lemon and bitter orange varieties, which were better suited to the winter season of northern fruit orchards, orangeries and fruit houses as “welsh” tree species than the cold-sensitive plants from the sun-drenched regions south of the Alps. Authors of northern horticultural literature, as published in the third edition of “Parnassus Hortensis” in Magdeburg in 1724, always confirmed the advantages of Alpine locations for growing seedlings under rough conditions, when they described the places of origin and trade.
Keywords :
Citrus fruits, horticulture, orangery, flowers, the Alps, Southern Germany, Nuremberg, Johann Christoph Vol(c)kamer, Lake Garda, Lake Como, Genoa, Venice, Italy.
