Johann Friedrich Mayer (agricultural scientist)

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Johann Friedrich Mayer at the age of 74

Johann Friedrich Georg Hartmann Mayer (born September 21, 1719 in Herbsthausen ; † March 17, 1798 in Kupferzell ) was a German pastor and reformed agriculture in Hohenlohe as the "Gipsapostel" .

Live and act

Johann Friedrich Mayer was born in Herbsthausen as the son of an innkeeper and mayor . After his theological training he held a pastor's position in Riedbach from 1741 to 1745 . From 1745 until his death in 1798 he was a Protestant pastor in Kupferzell.

In the garden of his rectory, Pastor Mayer made agricultural experiments for many years and also watched the work on the farms. In numerous writings, Mayer explained the natural relationships between agriculture and livestock farming to farmers. In addition to disseminating his findings through magazines and books, Mayer advised princes and farmers. Among other things, he introduced the Hohenloh farmers to the cultivation of potatoes , which were still unknown to them at the time . At first he only recommended the potato for feeding cattle, later mainly for human consumption.

To make better use of the fields, Mayer suggested that the farmers plant their fallow land with clover . As a result, they gained additional fodder for the livestock housing recommended by Mayer. A desirable side effect of the stable was the increased accumulation of manure, which could serve as fertilizer in the fields. Thanks to Mayer's suggestions, cattle breeding increased in Hohenlohe and became profitable for the farmers. The cattle were sold under the name bœuf de Hohenlohe to France, especially to Paris. The improved three-field management , which is still the basis for agricultural cultivation today, can also be traced back to Pastor Mayer. He recommended the farmers to fertilize their fields with gypsum (because of its abundance of lime), compost , stable manure , liquid manure and street dirt and thus remedy the partial lack of nutrients in the soil. The success was astonishing, and Mayer became widely known under the name of the Apostle of Paris . The introduction of fodder beet and most fruit cultivation in the region can also be traced back to Pastor Mayer.

One of the most important writings of Mayer was the textbook for the land and housekeepers (1773). In it he described a two-story stable house common in the region ; the warmth of the stable on the ground floor also heated the living rooms above. This type of building became known as the Pastor Mayer House in the 20th century , although Mayer was by no means its inventor.

Thanks to his progressive farming methods, Johann Friedrich Mayer was one of the most influential agricultural reformers of the late 18th century.

Mayer is also considered to be the most important popular educator during the sixties and seventies of the eighteenth century. In order to improve the social situation of the rural population, Mayer not only informs his readers about agricultural methods that need to be changed, but also vigorously and frankly advocates a change in the agricultural constitution, demands the abolition of compulsory labor and campaigns against the hunting and hunting justice Landlord. The range of topics he deals with is wide. In addition to the various questions and problems that can be classified under the purely agricultural-technical subject areas of cultivation, fertilization, harvesting, livestock farming, etc., his writings also repeatedly deal with socio-ethical and diaconal questions of his rural community. He is one of the few who criticize grievances with impartiality and frankness not only where they can expect educated readers of the time, but also scourge them in writings for the people - for example in the labor service. More typical for others is that instead of naming them openly, social grievances are criticized by the fact that they are opposed to descriptions of better conditions, dutiful authorities and philanthropic landowners.

Works (selection)

  • Contributions and treatises on taking up agriculture and housekeeping. 11 volumes and 3 additional volumes, 1769–1786
  • Doctrine of Gyps as a particularly good manure for all soil crops in fields and meadows, hops and vineyards . Anspach 1768; 2nd edition 1769.
  • Textbook for the land and housekeeper in the pragmatic history of the entire land and housekeeping work of the Hohenlohe Schillingsfürstischen Amt Kupferzell . Nuremberg 1773. Reprinted with a contribution by K. Schumm. Schwäbisch Hall 1980.
  • Kupferzell in the best prosperity through agriculture . Leipzig 1793.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrike Marski: A pastor as an architect? Background of a hoax. In: Albrecht Bedal (ed.): Old buildings, new knowledge. Two open-air museums and their heritage in the 21st century. Schwäbisch Hall 2012, pp. 9–13.
  2. ↑ Rolf Becker, in: Krüger (Ed.): God's Revelation in the World , pp. 78 f., 88.
  3. ↑ VD18 - database - entry

literature

  • Georg Wilhelm Heinrich Mayer: Johann Friedrich Mayer the apostle of the plaster. A character and culture image from the 18th century . Edenkoben 1899 (with picture).
  • Karl Schumm: Pastor Johann Friedrich Mayer and the Hohenlohe agriculture in the 18th century . In: Württembergisch Francs 1955, New Series 30 = Yearbook of the Historical Association for Württembergisch Francs 1955, pp. 138–167 (with picture and list of scriptures).
  • Karl Schumm: Johann Friedrich Georg Hartmann Mayer. Pastor, promoter of agriculture 1719–1798 . In: Schwäbische Lebensbilder Vol. 6, 1957, pp. 139–152 (picture and list of publications).
  • Wolfram Fischer: The Principality of Hohenlohe in the Age of Enlightenment . Tübingen 1958.
  • Rudolf hose: library of German cultural studies. Southwest Germany Department. Hohenlohe Franconia . Nuremberg 1964.
  • Klaus Herrmann:  Mayer, Johann Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 544 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Rolf Becker: "People who are so unhappy not even to enjoy the rights of wild animals among their fellow human beings" - popular enlightenment and a "theology of liberation" in the eighteenth century. In: Friedhelm Krüger (ed.), God's Revelation in the World, Gütersloh 1998, pp. 73–88, here 78–88.
  • Hans Dieter Haller: Johann Friedrich Mayer (1719 to 1798) . In: Pegasus in the country - writers in Hohenlohe . Baier-Verlag 2006, pp. 220-227.
  • Uwe Albrecht: Oracle of Agriculture: Johann Friedrich Mayer (1719–1798). in other words: Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Evangelical pastors as natural researchers and discoverers , Stuttgart 2007, pp. 128-134.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Mayer, Johann Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mayer, Johann Friedrich Georg Hartmann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pastor and agricultural reformer
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1719
PLACE OF BIRTH Herbsthausen
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1798
Place of death Copper cell