Johann Christian Metzger

Johann Metzger

Johann Christian Metzger (born October 11, 1789 in Lahr ; † September 15, 1852 in Bad Wildbad ) was a German landscape architect , gardener and pomologist who mainly designed landscape gardens in southwest Germany in the first half of the 19th century . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ Metzg. "

family

Johann Christian Metzger was born as the son of the gardener Johannes Metzger from Lahr, his mother was Maria Salome geb. Müller. Metzger's first marriage, since November 10th, 1811, was Lisette Hoffmann from Schwetzingen , who died on May 28th, 1813. From this marriage a daughter was born who died after six months. In his second marriage, he married Wilhelmine Kiefer from Karlsruhe on March 6, 1814 (* 1793 † January 22, 1847). This marriage also resulted in a daughter who died in 1847 at the age of 32.

job

Johann Christian Metzger completed an apprenticeship as a gardener with the court gardener Schweikardt in Karlsruhe and then worked as a gardening assistant in the Schwetzingen palace garden for gardening director Johann Michael Zeyher . In 1810 he became head gardener for Margrave Ludwig in Karlsruhe. In 1811 Metzger became a plantation inspector for the Pfinz, Enz, Kinzig and Murg districts, based in Rastatt .

On November 30, 1812, Metzger was appointed university gardener at Heidelberg Castle . In 1830 he received the title of "garden inspector" and in 1843 was appointed "grand ducal garden director". In 1851 the call to Karlsruhe was made to the “Centralstelle des agrarian society” with the mandate to work “for the purpose of raising agriculture in the Grand Duchy”, combined with the management of the “agricultural experimental garden”, which was moved from Heidelberg to Karlsruhe.

politics and society

From 1842 until his death, Metzger was a member of the 2nd Chamber of the Baden Landtag (state estates). During his long time in Heidelberg he was a member of the university , administrator of the "Agricultural Experimental Garden of the Agricultural Association" in Heidelberg and president of the fruit growing section for the assemblies of German wine and fruit producers, as well as a member of numerous scientific and professional societies.

Gardens

around 1830	Dirmstein	Castle park of the Koeth-Wanscheid Castle
1830	Heidelberg	City garden
1831	Heidelberg	Agricultural experimental garden of the Agricultural Association
1835	Eisenberg (Palatinate)	Gienanthscher Park
1841-45	Odernheim am Glan	Gardens around the ruins of the Disibodenberg monastery
1842-44	Heidelberg	Mountain cemetery
1843-44	Bad Dürkheim	Concept of the park around the ruins of the Limburg monastery

meaning

Metzger was both a scholar and a politician in the period of upheaval between the late Enlightenment and the European revolution. In his late work, it is especially his folk education writings that convey his liberal stance, in that he equates successful agriculture with the successful happiness of a constitutional state. He saw a general improvement in living conditions in the combination of science, agriculture and rule.

Butcher dealt with many wine, fruit and agriculture topics. He also dealt intensively with the cultivation of tobacco . There is one memorial stone each in Heidelberg (erected in the Stadtgarten in 1851, moved to the Neptungarten in 1893 ) and in Unterneudorf ( Odenwald , 1853). In 1833 Metzger was awarded the “Great Civil Merit Medal” in gold by Margrave Leopold von Baden, and in 1851 the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion .

Publications

• The Rhenish viticulture . Heidelberg 1827
• Description of the Heidelberg Castle and Gardens . Heidelberg 1829
• The wine and table grapes of the German vineyards and gardens , co-author Lambert Joseph von Babo . Mannheim 1836, 2nd edition Stuttgart 1851
• Karl Will, the little fruit grower, or thorough instruction in fruit tree cultivation for the benefit of young people. Frankfurt 1844.
• The farmer's mirror or Peter Lang, the understanding farmer and mayor. Frankfurt 1845.
• Marie Flink, the little vegetable gardener, or thorough instruction in vegetable growing. Frankfurt 1845.
• The pome fruit varieties of southern Germany according to the investigations of the wandering society of wine u. Fruit producers from 1839 to 1846. Frankfurt 1847.

See also

• List of pomologists

literature

• Günter Schruft: garden director Johann Metzger (1789–1852) and viticulture . Writings on Wine History, No. 137. Society for the History of Wine, 2001
• Georg Peter Karn: Johann Metzger and his gardens in the Palatinate . In: Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. 2002, pp. 6-12
• Claudia Rink (Ed.): With spade and pen. Johann Metzger 1789–1852. Landscape architect, botanist and designer of the Heidelberg Castle Gardens . regional culture publisher, Ubstadt-Weiher 2008, ISBN 978-3-89735-536-1 .
• Ilona Scheidle: Johann Metzger's philanthropic writings - horticulture as practical instructions for improving the world. In: Rink, Claudia (ed.): With spade and spring. Johann Metzger 1789–1852. Landscape architect, botanist and designer of the Heidelberg Castle Gardens. Ubstadt-Weiher 2008, pp. 72–80.

Web links

Wikisource: Johann Metzger  - Sources and full texts

Commons : Johann Metzger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Author entry and list of the plant names described for Johann Christian Metzger at the IPNI
• History of Wine: Johann Metzger ( Memento from June 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Heidelberg History Association: Johann Metzger