Jakob Gujer

Jakob Kleinjogg Gujer, 1775

Jakob Gujer , also Jacob Gujer, called Kleinjogg (baptized January 30, 1718 in Wermatswil ; † September 29, 1785 on the Katzenrüti estate in the municipality of Rümlang , buried October 2, 1785) was a farmer and reformer of agriculture.

Life

Jakob Gujer came from a large farming family. He had a total of seven siblings, some of whom died in infancy. His father died when Jacob was six years old. Gujer stood out for his clever and innovative farming methods. In 1761, the doctor Hans (Johann) Caspar Hirzel published the famous book Die Wirthschaft einer philosophischen Bauer , making him known far beyond the confederation.

In 1769, the city of Zurich let him manage the neglected Katzenrüti fiefdom in Rümlang . There he set up a model farm. In particular, he advocated the rationalization of farm work and the associated intensification of production. He achieved this through improved fertilization by adding peat ash and compost to the farm manure . He also improved the cultivation of forage crops . He grew clover , which could be used to feed more cows, leaving more manure and liquid manure for fertilization. Gujer also recognized the importance of the potato as a folk food . Crop rotation and drainage were other issues that the innovative farmer dealt with.

Jakob Gujer is regarded as a pioneer of modern agriculture. Through the farmer talks he initiated between townspeople and farmers, he came into contact with numerous famous personalities. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited him twice, first in 1775 and a second time in 1779 together with Duke Carl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach .

In addition to farming, Gujer also took care of the upbringing of the children and the establishment of the house. Heinrich Pestalozzi , for example, often referred to Gujer.

A memorial plaque at Hof Katzenrüti commemorates the Swiss pioneer of modern agriculture. In Wermatswil you will find the small jogging fountain created by the artist Walter Anton Hürlimann in 1941. The bronze sculpture shows Gujer as a sower.

Jakob Gujer Fountain in Wermatswil
Gujer's birthplace, Hintergasse 3
Kleinjogghof in Katzenrüti (Rümlang)

literature

Albert Hauser: Was Kleinjogg a model maker? In: Journal of Agricultural History and Agricultural Sociology, Vol. 9, 1961, pp. 211–217.
Hans Caspar Hirzel : The economy of a philosophical farmer. New, increased edition. Orell, Geßner, Füeßlin, Zurich 1774. (Reprint, with an afterword by Holger Böning . Verlag Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1998, ISBN 978-3-7728-1403-7 .)
Oskar Howald: Guyer, Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 358 f. ( Digitized version ).
Karin Marti-Weissenbach: Gujer, Jakob. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Otto Schmid, Daniel Wiedenkeller, Florentina Gartmann. Kleinjogg: pioneer of modern agriculture. Commemorative publication for the 300th birthday of Jakob Gujer. Wermatswil 2016. ISBN 978-3-033-05843-9 .
Otto Sigg : «Praise for efficiency». Small jog and Zurich agriculture on the eve of the industrial age. On the two hundredth anniversary of Gujer’s death jogging (1716–1785) . With texts by Otto Sigg, Hans-Ulrich Pfister, Thomas Schärli, pictures by Werner Reich. State Archives of the Canton of Zurich , Zurich 1985.

Web links

Commons : Jakob Gujer - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b See Max Furrer: Zurich's smart farmer. The wrong and the right little jog . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from February 10, 2017; Paper edition February 11th, p. 36. - Up to now, based on the Uster baptismal register, the specialist literature has assumed that Jakob Gujer was baptized on August 9th, 1716. This date is also sometimes mistakenly given as the date of birth. New research confirmed by the Zurich State Archives in 2017 showed that this date is incorrect. A Jakob Gujer was baptized on August 9, 1716, but it was the older brother of the later prototype builder, who died again on February 10, 1717 after six months of life. According to the baptismal register, the correct date of baptism for the little jog is January 30, 1718. The date of birth is unknown. According to Max Furrer, it was quite common at the time to baptize several children in the family with the same first name, especially if one or more of that name had died before. Jogg is short for Jakob, and Chlijogg is the name of the second Jakob in the family. In addition, the date of death (September 29) and the date of burial (October 2) are often confused.

personal data
SURNAME	Gujer, Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Small jog
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Farmer and reformer of agriculture
DATE OF BIRTH	January 30, 1718
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wermatswil
DATE OF DEATH	October 2, 1785
Place of death	Rümlang

[furrer-1] See Max Furrer: Zurich's smart farmer. The wrong and the right little jog . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from February 10, 2017; Paper edition February 11th, p. 36. - Up to now, based on the Uster baptismal register, the specialist literature has assumed that Jakob Gujer was baptized on August 9th, 1716. This date is also sometimes mistakenly given as the date of birth. New research confirmed by the Zurich State Archives in 2017 showed that this date is incorrect. A Jakob Gujer was baptized on August 9, 1716, but it was the older brother of the later prototype builder, who died again on February 10, 1717 after six months of life. According to the baptismal register, the correct date of baptism for the little jog is January 30, 1718. The date of birth is unknown. According to Max Furrer, it was quite common at the time to baptize several children in the family with the same first name, especially if one or more of that name had died before. Jogg is short for Jakob, and Chlijogg is the name of the second Jakob in the family. In addition, the date of death (September 29) and the date of burial (October 2) are often confused.