Alexis Lepère the Younger

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Alexis Lepère the Younger

Alexis Joseph Gabriel Lepère († August 11, 1896 in Montreuil ) was a French gardener and peach grower. He was the son of the orcharder Alexis Lepère the Elder .

Life

Murs à pêches in Montreuil

Alexis Lepère was born in Montreuil near Paris as the son of the gardener and tree nursery owner Alexis Lepères the Elder. The family had been a fruit grower for several generations, with Alexis Lepère the elder being known throughout Europe for his specialist knowledge and a cutting technique he developed for espalier fruit , especially peach trees. Alexis Lepère the Younger learned the craft of fruit growing and shaped fruit cutting from his father, whom he followed suit. So he made the drawings and illustrations in his book, which appeared in French in seven editions and became a standard work on espalier fruit growing.

Just like his father, Alexis Lepère the younger also tried to pass on his knowledge of fruit growing and especially peach culture and, like him, held lectures and courses in his garden. He later gave lectures in Paris, Montreuil and Vincennes for the newly founded Association polytechnique.

Alexis Lepère the Younger died in Montreuil on August 11, 1896. Only in June of the same year had he received a commission from the Société nationale d'Horticulture on his property, to which he demonstrated the peach culture in cold houses.

Working abroad

Leper walls in Basedow
Construction of the Leper walls with roof and cover in front of the espalier fruit

Arendsee, Basedow and Bandelin

In 1853, the large landowner Albert von Schlippenbach and his sister, Countess Agnes von Hahn (born May 29, 1812, † April 5, 1857 in Basedow ) visited Paris and were very impressed by the quality of the fruits offered there. They decided to first get information about the technique of fruit growing on walls in France and then to establish new cultivation techniques and types of fruit in their home town of Mecklenburg in order to be able to produce high quality fruit there as well. During their stay in France, they also visited the orchards of Alexis Lepère the elder, who was known for his special skills and knowledge of peach culture. Alexis Lepère the Younger offered to travel to Mecklenburg the following spring to plant table fruit crops with walls.

In 1854 Lepère traveled to Northern Germany and planted fruit on the walls of Schloss Basedow , the estate of Friedrich von Hahn . The main wall, which was about 80 meters long and oriented in a south-easterly direction, had eight walls in a vertical direction, so that a total of seven chambers were formed, whose depth decreased from west to east. The walls had a foundation made of field stones about 45 centimeters wide. The remaining structure of the wall consisted of a kind of stamped concrete made of coarse gravel and a high proportion of lime, to which straw was also added in the upper parts. Wooden dowels were embedded in the wall, which were used to fasten battens. Lepère concluded a contract with Count von Hahn, according to which he was responsible for the maintenance of the grounds and also supervised the responsible gardeners; for this he received 1,000 francs a year.

The following year he came back to Germany to also plant fruit crops at Arendsee Castle near Prenzlau on behalf of Count von Schlippenbach . After the completion of the plant, he visited Basedow and Arendsee several times a year to check and expand the cultures.

The main wall of the Arendsee complex ran from east to west and was 116 rods long at a height of 9 feet . The distance of 32 rods was planted with vines, the rest with espalier fruit trees, especially peach and apricot trees. From the main wall there were 14 transverse walls at right angles, which were also planted with espalier fruit. The resulting chambers, which are open to the south, were planted with low, free-standing Contre trellises and used to raise young trees and to grow vegetables and strawberries. In the summer months, the potted fruit plants of the orangery were placed in a chamber. In addition to the main complex, three smaller gardens, also surrounded by walls, were laid out on the castle grounds. In total, the Arendsee espalier orchards comprised 76 peach, 44 apricot, 319 pear, 498 apple, 36 cherry and 29 plum trees as well as 16 gooseberry bushes. While Lepère initially chose numerous different noble varieties, the range of varieties was reduced in the first two decades, as some of the selected varieties turned out to be too sensitive for the north German climate despite the protective walls.

The Arendsee complex was looked after by the local gardener Wünn, who was instructed in the cultivation technique by Lepère. Von Schlippenbach offered that young gardeners could come to Arendsee for spring and summer pruning and there they could learn the special pruning technique from Wünn.

Lepère laid out another orchard with walls for the Prussian chamberlain Friedrich von Behr on the Vargatz manor near Bandelin .

The Counts von Hahn and von Schlippenbach exhibited fruits that had been grown on their Lepère'schen plants at the pomological meetings in Berlin and Görlitz and took part in various agricultural exhibitions. Finally in 1857 Alexis Lepère the Elder took over. J. together with Albert von Schlippenbach personally participated in the meeting of German fruit growers in Gotha, where he gave lectures on his experiences with table fruit culture in Arendsee. Lepère gave a practical editing demonstration, with von Schlippenbach translating from French for the audience.

Potsdam

Plan of the Lepèr facilities on the Klausberg

In order to recommend himself as a gardener, Alexis Lepère and Queen Augusta had minister Moritz August von Bethmann-Hollweg present peaches, apples and pears annually from 1859 onwards . However, it was not until the summer of 1862 that he succeeded in convincing Kaiser Wilhelm I and the queen to commission him to plant a fruit cultivation. In autumn, under his guidance, a 128-foot-long wall system was built at the Königlichen Weinberg am Klausberg, stretching from east to west, from which four walls each 56-foot long ran southwards. The walls closed off with a projecting protective roof to which wooden shutters were attached from March to May to protect the blossoming trees from frost.

Lepère already obtained the trees in espalier form from France. Lepère planted the peach, pear and cherry trees, which needed more warmth, directly on the walls, while the spaces between the walls were planted with apple and pear trees on trellises 2 to 4 feet high.

Finally, in 1863, the imperial couple commissioned him to plant fruit cultures on the walls of Babelsberg Palace as well . At the northern end of the site of the former court nursery in the Babelsberg Park, a facility was built with four chambers open to the south, which were connected at their northern end by passages with wooden doors. The soil in the chambers was rigged to a depth of 1.4 meters and enriched with clay and cow dung. The selection of the varieties was made by the court gardener Carl Fintelmann, who was responsible for the plant on Klausberg. The facility in Babelsberg was looked after by the Babelsberg court gardener Christoph Ferdinand Kindermann and, after his death in 1865, by his son Otto Ferdinand Kindermann (* 1843, † 1918), whereby Lepère came to Germany twice a year for several years to take care of the espalier trees in summer to cut. For this, he initially received only a very small fee of seven Friedrichsdor , before a maintenance contract was signed in the spring of 1866, which guaranteed him 2000 francs annually for the maintenance of the complex.

Due to the success he initially achieved with his plants, Alexis Lepère the Younger received further orders for the planting of orchards. Overall, he created more than forty systems abroad, including in Mecklenburg-Schwerin , Mecklenburg-Strelitz , Pomerania, Silesia, in the Duchy of Nassau , in East Prussia and in Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg, although the exact sites of action are no longer known today .

In 1870, Ferdinand Jühlke created a third facility based on the Lepèrean principle in Potsdam for the Royal Gardening School at the Wildlife Park near Potsdam , where he wanted to demonstrate the culture on talut walls and the espalier fruit pruning to the students of the institution.

Fate of the plants

Lepère regularly visited the plants he had created in Germany for a few years and was also able to demonstrate good fruit harvests with high-quality fruits as successes. Due to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 , however, he could no longer maintain the facilities and did not want to return to Germany after the war. However, he was in correspondence with numerous aristocrats who valued his advice on fruit-growing issues, including the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, Prince Metternich, Grand Duchess Helena of Russia, Prince Reuss, Prince Wittgenstein, the King of Saxony and the diplomat Aristanchi Bey.

The cultivation of particularly warm fruit species and demanding varieties could not, however, prevail in Germany in the long term. This was probably partly due to the choice of fruit varieties that, although they had proven themselves in France, were too sensitive for the German climate. Another problem with the facilities seems to have been the infestation with insects, in particular the apple aphid , which was able to multiply strongly thanks to the protected location within the chambers.

The plants in Arendsee were initially operated for several decades, but the choice of fruit types was adapted to the climate. Today only a few remains of the foundations of the systems in Basedow and Arendsee can be found.

The facilities in Potsdam were later no longer maintained and the trees were no longer cut regularly. At the turn of the century, the systems were already considered outdated and out of date and were viewed more as a historical than a profitable cultural technology. Due to lack of maintenance, the walls increasingly fell into disrepair, the trees died and the areas were overgrown.

From around 1960, the areas of the chambers between the Leper's walls on Klausberg were leased to allotment gardeners. From 1999 the Lepèresche plant on Klausberg was restored by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg in cooperation with an association in the run-up to the 2001 Federal Horticultural Show in Potsdam and planted with peach and pear trees and vines in trellis form. A restoration is also planned for the Babelsberg facility over the next few years.

Cultivations of fruit varieties

Alexis Lepère the Younger was the breeder of the following peach varieties:

  • Alexis Lepère , in trade from 1876
  • Pêche Vilmorin , dedicated to the Vilmorin family of gardeners
  • Pêche Colombier , dedicated to the nursery owner Colombier from Vitry

Honors

In 1866 he was made an honorary member of the horticultural associations for New West Pomerania and Rügen. He was holder of the Ordre du Mérite agricole in the officer's class.

Web links

Commons : Alexis Lepère the Younger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexis Lepère: The culture of the peach tree in square, fan, heart trunk, Leyer, gust of wind, candelabrum and other forms, along with explanations about pruning, reproduction, the diseases of the peach tree and a list of the best varieties. For gardeners, gardeners and friends of the peach tree. After the fifth French. Original edition translated from French by J. Hartwig. Publishing house by Bernhard Friedrich Voigt, Weimar, 1861, p. VII.
  2. ↑ a b c d M. Delessard: Notice sur Alexis Lepère, Fils. In: Journal de la Sociètè Nationale d'Horticulture des France. Tome 18, Paris 1896, pp. 1011-1016.
  3. ^ Necrology: M. Alexis Lepère . In: Journal des Roses. Eugène Drosne, Melun 1896, p. 144.
  4. ↑ O. Opoix: Rapport sur la culture du Pecher it serre froide de M. Alexis Lepère Fils a Montreuil. In: Journal de la Sociètè Nationale d'Horticulture des France. Tome 18, Paris 1896, pp. 781-783.
  5. ^ Arendsee and the finer fruit growing of the Count of Schlippenbach. In: Weekly of the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture in the Royal Prussian States for Horticulture and Herbology. No. 30, Berlin, July 30, 1864, p. 233.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Arendsee and the finer fruit growing of the Count of Schlippenbach. In: Weekly of the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture in the Royal Prussian States for Horticulture and Herbology. No. 30, Berlin, July 30, 1864, p. 234.
  7. ↑ Mr. Alexis Lepère's work in northern German orchards. In: C. von Salviati: Annals of Agriculture in the Royal Prussian States. 22nd year, 43rd volume. Barthol and Co, Berlin 1864, p. 59.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f G. Schurig: The development of the kitchen gardening on Klausberg. In: Yearbook Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg, Volume 6, Berlin 2004, pp. 61–84.
  9. ↑ a b L. Wittmak: The excursion of the Märkisches Obstbauverein to Boitzenburg and Arendsee on the occasion of the exhibition in Prenzlau. In: Gartenflora: Monthly for German and Swiss horticulture and flower studies, 37th year, published by Paul Parey, Berlin 1888, pp. 87–90.
  10. ↑ von Bistram: Lepères method in fruit growing on the trellis. In: Annals of Agriculture in the Royal Prussian States, 35th volume, published by Gustav Bosselmann, Berlin 1860, pp. 260–269.
  11. ↑ J. Münter: Report on the exhibition of plants, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables and agricultural products of the plant and animal kingdom organized by the horticultural associations for New Western Pomerania and Rügen in Stralsund during the days from September 13 to 16, 1866 . In: Weekly of the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture in the Royal Prussian States for Horticulture and Herbology. 9th year, published by Karl Wiegandt, Berlin 1866, pp. 313–317.
  12. ^ The animal show and exhibition of agricultural and horticultural objects in Berlin from May 23rd to 25th. In: Weekly of the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture in the Royal Prussian States for Horticulture and Herbology. Volume 4, Verlag von Wiegandt & Hempel, Berlin 1861, pp. 172-175.
  13. ^ K. Koch: The second general German fruit, wine and vegetable exhibition from October 9th to 13th in Gotha. In: Negotiations of the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture in the Royal Prussian States. Volume 5, Berlin 1857, p. 186.
  14. ^ Wünn: Trellis and Contre-Trellis fruit breeding at Arendsee near Prenzlau. In: Monthly for pomology and practical fruit growing - organ of the German Pomologists Association, 1860, pp. 113-118 u. 142-145.
  15. ^ Protocols of the Association for the History of Potsdam - Tenth Assembly. In: L. Schneider: Mittheilungen of the association for the history of Potsdam. Gropius'sche Buch- und Kunsthandlung (A. Krausnick), Potsdam 1864, p. 45 f.
  16. ^ Protocols of the Association for the History of Potsdam - Tenth Assembly. In: L. Schneider: Mittheilungen of the association for the history of Potsdam. Gropius'sche Buch- und Kunsthandlung (A. Krausnick), Potsdam 1864, p. 45 f.
  17. ↑ M. Heise, M. Vranic: Potsdam, Park Babelsberg, former Hofgartnerei - The Lepère'schen quarters I. In: Yearbook MSD 2007-09, Berlin 2009, p. 57
  18. ↑ F. Jamin: Allocution prononcèe aux obsèques de M. Alexis Lepère. In: Jardins de France. Paris 1896, p. 755.
  19. ↑ W. Lauche: V. About the autumn pruning, the different documents and varieties of dwarf fruit trees to be planted. In: F. Jühlke: The royal state tree nursery and gardening school in Potsdam. Historical presentation of its founding, effectiveness and results together with culture contributions. Verlag von Wiegandt & Hempfel, Berlin 1872, p. 101.
  20. ↑ a b Excursion of the committees of the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture to the Forcing Shops in the Kgl. Court gardens at Potsdam. In: L. Wittmack: Garden flora - magazine for garden and flower knowledge. 50th year. Verlag der Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin 1901, p. 263 ff.
  21. ↑ From the clubs. Meeting of the Joint Committees for Wood and Fruit Cultivation on April 18th. In: L. Wittmack: Garden flora - magazine for garden and flower knowledge. 50th year. Verlag der Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin 1901, p. 645 f.
  22. ↑ Royal Vineyard : 1945 - marble, stone and iron breaks ( Memento from February 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ^ I. Holland, S. von Wangenheim: Potsdam, Park Babelsberg, former court gardener - Die Lepère'schen Quartiere II. In: Yearbook MSD 2007-09, Berlin 2009, p. 58.
  24. ↑ Help for the court gardening in Babelsberg Park - Association of Patrons of the Royal Court Gardening e. V. and the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Babelsberg sign a cooperation agreement. Press release of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG) dated September 17, 2014, accessed on January 31, 2015.
  25. ^ Société pomologique de France: Catalog descriptif des fruits adoptés par le Congrès Pomologique. Imprimierie Paul Legendre et Cie., Lyon 1906, p. 84.
  26. ^ EA Carrière: Vilmorin Peach (Pêche Vilmorin). In: Der Fruchtgarten - Illustrated magazine for fruit growing, cultivar knowledge and fruit use as well as for wood and flower growing, kitchen and commercial gardening. Verlag Wilhelm Köhler, Vienna 1888, p. 142 f.
  27. ↑ P. Mouillefert: Traité des arbres & arbrisseaux, forestiers, industriels et d'ornement, cultivés ou exploités en Europe et plus particulièrement en France, donnant la description et l'utilisation de plus de 2400 espèces et 2000 variètès. Volume 1, Verlag Paul Klincksieck, Paris 1846–1903, p. 404.
  28. ↑ J. Münter: Report on the exhibition of plants, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables and agricultural products of the plant and animal kingdom organized by the horticultural associations for New Western Pomerania and Rügen in Stralsund during the days from September 13 to 16, 1866 . In: Weekly of the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture in the Royal Prussian States for Horticulture and Herbology. 9th year, published by Karl Wiegandt, Berlin 1866, pp. 313–317.
personal data
SURNAME Lepère, Alexis, the younger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lepère, Alexis fils; Lepère, Alexis Joseph Gabriel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French pomologist, nursery owner and fruit grower
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Montreuil
DATE OF DEATH August 11, 1896
Place of death Montreuil