Josef Schmidberger

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Memorial to Joseph Schmidberger in the Prelate Garden of St. Florian Monastery, created by Franz Forster (1931)
Schmidberger Renette , depiction in German Pomology - Apples , 1882/83

Josef Schmidberger Can. Reg. (Born November 4, 1773 in Urfahr near Linz , † August 10, 1844 in St. Florian ) was an Austrian priest and pomologist . He bred new types of fruit and is considered a pioneer in pest control .

Life

After attending grammar school in Linz, Schmidberger studied medicine at the University of Vienna in 1794/95 , but developed a predilection for the natural sciences under the influence of Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin and Joseph Franz von Jacquin . Due to a serious illness, he broke off his studies and entered the Augustinian Canons of St. Florian in 1796 . From 1797 he attended the seminary in Linz, made his profession in 1798 and was ordained a priest in 1800. He then worked as a cooperator in the Ansfelden Abbey Parish . From 1810 he worked in the monastery, initially as a kitchen master, from 1819 also as a garden prefect.

Even as a novice he was occupied with botany and then turned to fruit growing in particular. In the monastery he set up an orangery and reorganized the nursery . He dealt with the breeding and processing of fruit varieties, especially apple and peach varieties, and sold a large range throughout the Habsburg Monarchy and beyond. He researched the pests of the fruit trees particularly intensively. He discovered new species, among other things he was the first to describe the apple leaf sucker ( Pyslla mali Schmidberger ). He was also one of the first to recognize that the pests in other animal species, especially the parasitic wasps , had natural enemies, which he used for biological pest control.

In 1821 Schmidberger began to set up a bird collection that contained a large proportion of Upper Austria's birds. The unique collection of 349 specimens in 171 types was donated to the Upper Austrian State Museum by St. Florian Monastery in 2014.

From 1834 until his death, he was a member of the board of directors of the Francisco-Carolinum Museum Association in Linz and initiated an entomological collection.

Several horticultural and fruit growing societies made him an honorary member, including in 1826 the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture in the Prussian State . Georg Liegel named an apple variety found in the area around Braunau am Inn but not previously described as Schmidberger Renette .

Fonts (selection)

  • Short practical lesson on raising the fruit trees in garden pots, or the so-called fruit orangery trees. Cajetan Haslinger, Linz 1820
  • Easy-to-understand teaching of the upbringing of dwarf trees. Cajetan Haslinger, Linz 1821
  • Easy to understand instruction on the upbringing of fruit trees, given in a critical presentation of the current state of fruit tree cultivation in Austria above the Enns, together with the natural history of some insects harmful to fruit trees. Cajetan Haslinger, Linz 1824
  • Contributions to fruit tree cultivation and the natural history of insects harmful to fruit trees. 4 booklets, Cajetan Haslinger, Linz, 1828–1836
  • Easy to understand lessons about the upbringing and care of the fruit trees. Publishing house of the kk Museums-Verein in Austria ob der Enns and Salzburg, Linz 1837
  • Insects harmful to fruit trees. In: Vincenz Kollar (ed.): Natural history of harmful insects in relation to agriculture and forest culture. Negotiations of the kk Landwirthschaftsgesellschaft in Vienna, New Series 5, 1837
  • Of the care of God for the preservation of insects so that they do not become extinct. In: VI. Annual report of the Francisco-Carolinum Museum, Linz 1842

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Joseph Schmidberger  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Speyer: The apple leaf sucker Psylla mali Schmidberger. Monographs on Plant Protection, Volume 1, Julius Springer, Berlin 1929 doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-642-90948-1
  2. ↑ St. Florian Monastery handed over the bird collection to the Upper Austrian State Museum , bezirksrundschau.com from September 16, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Schmidberger, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian priest and pomologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1773
PLACE OF BIRTH Urfahr
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1844
Place of death St. Florian