m
r t i ,
In the summer-time the greenliouse plants arc taken out, and plunged in borders of
sand, where they grow vigorously, and flower beautifully.
383. T/ure are many other botanic gardens in Germany, both in the smaller states and
in the free towns. That at Hamburgh has lately been enlarged in extent, and the
numher of plants increased. That at Erlangen, of which Fischer is the director, has
long been celebrated. The Leipzig garden is known for its collection of Umbelliferai;
that of Frankfort, for its orange tre e s ; and that at Wilhelm’s Höhe, for its splendid
range of conservatories. In the botanic garden of M. Wild, at Casscl, a collection of
alpines is fonncd on an ai'tificial hill, 100 feet high, and covered with rockwork.
SuBSECT. 3. German Gardening, in respect to Horticultural Productions.
384. In all probability horticidture was firs t introduced into Germany by the Romans,
and afterwards revived by the religious houses. The native fmits and culinaiy plants
of Germany are the same as those of France, already enmnerated. In the musemn of
the arsenal, in Dresden, are still preserved, and sho5vn to strangers, the gardening tools
with which Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, worked with his own hands. This
sovereign died in 1566. He is said to have planted the first vineyai-d in Saxony, and
to have greatly increased the varieties of the hardy fruits.
385. The more common fru its o f Germany, the chcny, the peai*, the plum, aud the
apple, are natives, or naturalised in the woods. Good varieties w'ould, no doubt, be
brought from Italy by the monks, who established themselves in Gennany in the dai-k
ages, and from the convents be introduced to the gardens of the nobles, as the latter
became somewhat civilised. This would more especially be the case with those provinces
situated on the Rhine, where the genial soil and climate would bring fruits to
greater perfection, and, in time, render them more common, than in the northern dis-
ti-icts. Dr. D id , hoivcver, a native of the best part of tins tract of country (Nassau-
Dietz), complains (Obst Orangerie in Scherben, Ister band), so late as 1804, th a t apples,
pears, and chemes were most commonly raised from seeds, and planted in orchai'ds,
without being grafted.
The fin e r fruits^jnXy ihxivQ in the south of Germany,
oduced in Austria and Hungary, and produces well a
T h e apricot appears to have been some time
luuuuuGcu IU XXUOAIUI lu.rei AAV....... J , r - ' ____ ____ » Standard in th e neighbourhood of Vienna.
The peach is most commonly grown against walls. The mulberry produces leaves for the silkworm as
far north as Frankfort on th e Oder, but ripens its fruit with difficulty, unless phanted against w.alls.
T h e vine is cultivated as far north as th e fifty-second degree of latitude, in vineyards, and somewhat
fa rther in gardens; th e fig, to nearly th e same extent, against walls, its branches being every where
protected in winter: it is, however, a ra re fruit in Germany. At Vienna it is kept in large tubs and
boxes, and housed during winter in th e wine-cellars. F ru it trees in Germany are very common along
th e roads: Suabia was th e first country to adopt this practice, about the middle of th e eighteenth
century About th e beginning of the present century, fruit trees began to be phanted along the roadsides
hy th e government of Baden, and th e laws respecting them were drawn up with th e assistance of Zeyer,
th e garden director of Schwezingen. . . u
The vine-applc Beckmann informs us, was first brought to maturity by Baron iVluncnausen, at
Schwöbber near Hamclin. The large buildings erected by th e Baron for this fruit arc described in
the Nurenibers Hesperides, 1713-14. It was ripened also by D r. Kaltschmidt, at Breslau, m 1702, who
sent some fru it to th e imperial court. At present there are pineries to be found in all th e court gardens
of the empire.
386. I n Austria the best varieties of hardy fi-uit trees are said (Bright’s Travels) to
have been introduced from Holland, by Van der Schott, aboi.it the middle of the seventeenth
c en tu ry ; but many of them must have been in the imperial gai-dens long before
this period, from the connection of A ustria with the Netherlands; yet Mayer, in 1776,
speaking of fi-uits, says, that “ the age of Schönbrunn will be for Franconia what that
of Louis the Fom-teenth was for France.” The Rev. J . V. Sickler, in Saxc-Gotha,
counsellor Diel, at Nassau-Dietz, and counsellor Ransleben, at Berlin, have established,
within the last fifty years, fruit-tree nurseries, where all the best Dutch, French, _ and
English varieties may be purchased. Diel and Ransleben prove the sorts, by fniiting
the original specimens in pots in a greenhouse. Sickler has fruited an immense number
of sorts in the open air, and published descriptions of them in Der Teutsche Obst Gartner ;
a work of which forty-eight volumes have afrcady appeared. Since the peace of 1814, a
society Der Landioirthschaftliches Vereins, &c., has been established for the promotion of
agriculture and gardening at V ien n a ; and one of the imperial gardeners, M. F. Ranch,
a young man of great talent and industry, has been sent to England, where he has spent
several years in the study of the various departments of his art.
387. In Hungary liorticultiue has been much neglected; but fruit-tree nurseries were
establislied there by government in 1808, and subsequently by private gentlemen,
riiims, Dr. Bright informs us, are cultivated, in order to make a kind of brandy. _ The
Tokay wine is made from the variety of grape figured and described by Sickler, in his
Garden Magazine of 1804, as the Hungarian blue. The soil of the Tokay vmeyards is
a red brown clay, mixed with sand, incumbent on a clay-slatc rock ; and it is observed
bv a Hungarian wi'iter quoted by Dr. Bright, that, “ in proportion as the soil is poor
and stonv. and the vine feeble, the fruit and u'ine, though small in quantity, become
more excellent in their quality.” Tokay wine is niitdc in the submontane district which
extends over a space about twenty miles round the toivn of that name. The grapes arc
left on the plants till they become dry and sweet; they are then gathered one by one,
p ut in a cask irith a perforated bottom, and allowed to remain till that portion of the
juice escapes ivliich will ru n from them without any pressure. This, which is called
Tokay essence, is generally in veiy small quantity. The grapes are then put into a vat,
aud framplcd with the bare fe e t; to the squeezed mass is next added an equal quantity
of good wine, which is alloivcd to stand for twenty-four hours, and is then strained.
The juice, \rithout further preparation, becomes the far-famed ivine of Tokay, which is
difficult to he obtained, and sells in Vienna at the rate of 12/. per dozen. The Tokay
vineyards arc cliiefly the property of the emperor.
388. In Prussia the best finiit.s were introduced by Frederick IT., who was passionately
fond of them. lu 'o n e of his letters to Voltaire, while he was crown prince, he
speaks of his “ dear garden at Riipin.” “ I burn with impatience,” he says, “ to see
again my vineyards, my chcn-ic.s, my melons.” (Dover’s L ife o f Fred. I I ., p. 204.)
After he became king, he cultivated, at Potsdam, all the best Dutch varieties, on walls,
espaliers, under glass, and in the open garden. He was particularly fond of pine-apples,
of which he grow a great mimbei- in p its ; and is censured by an English traveller
(Burnett), because, on his dcath-hcd, he made inquiries after the ripening of one of
them, of which he expected to make a last bonne bouche. Potsdam and Schwöbber
were the only parts of Gcrmaiiy where forcing was at that time practised to any extent.
There arc now iu the royal gardens of Prussia excellent pine-apples reared imder the •
care of gardeners of very superior merit, who have visited England. A t Potsdam, since
the peace of 1814, the department for forcing fruits (obst trciberey) has been gi-catly enlarged,
and various kinds of fruits brought forward at a very eai-ly period of the season,
more particularly chcn-ies. (Gard. Mag., vol. iii. p. 94.)
389. In Bavaria, liorticultm-e has been practised fi-om a very early period. Beans,
peas, lentils, and turnips were cultivated by the ancients chiefly in enclosed places
(hortis), whicli were <lenominated fabaria, pisarla, Icnticularia, and napina, according to
the things cultivated. Whoever committed theft in these places, or in any other garden,
was punished with a fine of fifteen schillings, which was, however, diminished to tlmee
under Charles the Great. Garlic, the cucumber, and the chick pea were also known.
The rearing of fruit trees was much encouraged, and laws were enacted against damaging
trees. Wlioevcr is so malicious, says the ancient Bavarian law, as to injure another
person’s garden, is fined the sura of forty schillings, twenty of which go to the posse.ssor
of the gai-den, and the other twenty are taken as a public iorfcitm-e of the violated law :
the offender shall, moreover, replant there the same mimbcr of trees, of the same varieties,
and shall every year pay down a schilling ibr each tree, until they bear fmit (i. 20.).
Of fruit trees there were the apple, the pear, and the clicn-y (chirsiboiiin, Cérasus) : these
were improved by g ra ftin g ; and whoc'\'’er maliciously broke off’ a scion was fined tlie
sum of three schillings, which, if the tree stood in a garden, was increased to fifteen
schillings. The preparation of cider seems also not to have been unknown at that time,
for Tacian, an ancient German author, says, “ Inti uvin noh cidiri trin k it” (c. 2.) ; that
is, “ They drink both wine and cider.” That Bavaria was indebted to the Romans for
the cherry, plum, and peai*, may be considered probable, from the circumstance of these
trees bearing Roman names. The apple, on tho contrary, is from the native woods.
Charlemagne, a . d . 800, considerably advanced gardening and the rearing of fniit
trce.s. Ill every century of the history of this country are found notices respecting
horticiiltiii-e and the cultivation of fruits. Two sorts of leeks (poree) were known
in. the beginning of the fourteenth century, P ó i t u s pórritiis and P . major. Sage, rue,
yffen, pennyroyal, haps, cappus, the poppy, and the horseradish, were called oleres, to
distinguish them from legumes. In 1209 culinary plants aud tree fmits were not
subject to tith e s ; and, in Augsburg, thieving iu gardens was severely punished. From
tlii.s time forward gardening in Bavaria has gradually advanced from its degraded state,
till now there is not a village or parish can be found which does not possess fruit trees,
sometimes even of tlic rarest kinds. Wiirtzbm-g, Bambiirg, and Nuremberg haye long
been famous for the high degree of civilisation which they have attained. Munich and
Nymphenburg possess good forcing establishments, and excellent fmit and legumes.
The preservation of ornamental plants and culinary vegetables through the winter is
effected with wonderful success in the higher parts of the countiy, and particularly
about Munich. The principal means made use of arc, cellars deeply sunk in the
ground, for the preservation of culinaiy vegetables, which ai*e there planted on sheli'es
of e a rth ; coverings of straw mats, and of thick boards, for pits and ft-amcs ; and
opa(iue roofs with coverings of straw mats for the front glass of hothouses of every
description. I t is astonishing in how few minutes a range of hothouses of 200 or 300
feet iu length may be covered with straw mats, or imco-vercd.
M 4