Louis Böhmer

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Louis Böhmer

Louis Böhmer (born May 30, 1843 in Lüneburg , † July 29, 1896 in Blankenburg (Harz) ) was a German-American horticultural scientist and entrepreneur. As a “foreign contractor” ( Japanese お 雇 い 外国人 , O-yatoi gaikokujin) he worked from 1871 to 1882 for the Japanese government. He then founded a nursery in Yokohama that specialized in the export of Japanese plants to Europe and the United States .

Life

Louis Böhmer attended high school in his hometown of Lüneburg. He finished his apprenticeship in the Graflich-Stolbergische Hofgärtnerei in Wernigerode , where Heinrich Fintelmann was his teacher. He then worked for the JL Schiebler & Sohn tree nursery in Celle and the Christian von Brocken nursery in Lübeck before he found a job at the royal gardening center in Hanover . In 1867 he emigrated to the United States and worked in a nursery in Rochester (New York) .

In 1871 the future Japanese Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka (1840-1900) traveled to Europe and the United States to recruit advisers for the authority founded in 1869 for the development of Hokkaidōs (開拓 使Kaitakushi ). Among others, Böhmer was employed as a horticultural specialist and traveled from San Francisco to Yokohama in 1872 . He first ran an experimental farm near Tokyo, for which he imported European fruit trees that were still unknown in Japan, but which he assumed would thrive in the climate of Hokkaidō. But he also grew asparagus , carrots , potatoes , barley , soybeans , wheat and wine and introduced farm animals . In May 1874 Böhmer moved with his plants to Hokkaidō. He ran a model garden, provided the colonists with the crops they needed and advised them on their cultivation. On his travels across the island he found wild hops and recommended that they be used for brewing beer . The kaitakushi then founded in 1876 the first Japanese brewery - today's Sapporo Biru Kabushiki Kaisha  - whose brewmaster Nakagawa Seibei had learned his trade in Germany. Boehmer's contract was renewed several times until the Japanese government dissolved the development agency in 1882.

Faced with the choice of returning to the United States or settling in Japan, he opted for the latter. Using his existing trade contacts in the USA, he founded a successful nursery in Yokohama , the first of a foreigner in Japan. He exported Japanese plants and seeds to America and Europe and campaigned for the promotion of the Japanese art of bonsai in the western world. Important trading partners were H. H. Berger & Co. in San Francisco, J. C. Schmidt in Erfurt and James Carter & Co. in London . Business developed so well that in 1889 he had an assistant, Alfred Unger (1865–1938), sent by J. C. Schmidt , who primarily took care of the procurement of the Japanese sago palm fern from the Ryūkyū Islands . In 1892 Unger joined Boehmer's company as an equal partner. He withdrew from the business in 1894 for health reasons and returned to Germany, where he died two years later in a sanatorium in Blankenburg am Harz. Unger continued the company under the previous name L. Boehmer & Co. until 1908.

literature

  • Alfred Unger: Japan reflections and memories . In: The garden world .
    • Vol. 33, 1929: Part I: Issue 45, pp. 629–630 ( PDF ; 1.47 MB), Part II: Issue 47, p. 657 ( PDF ; 1.47 MB), Part III: Issue 49, P. 684–685 ( PDF ; 1.77 MB), Part IV: Issue 51, P. 712–713 ( PDF ; 1.42 MB),
    • Vol. 34, 1930: Part V: Booklet 2, pp. 25-26 ( PDF ; 1.52 MB), Part VI: Booklet 4, pp. 52-54 ( PDF ; 1.53 MB), Part VII: Booklet 6, p. 80 ( PDF ; 1.55 MB), Part VIII: Issue 10, pp. 137-138 ( PDF ; 1.50 MB).
  • Bernd Lepach: From the life of Germans in Japan: Louis Böhmer and Alfred Unger - two gardeners of the Meiji era (1868–1912) . In: Japan at a glance . No. 157, September 2011, pp. 3–6 ( PDF ; 1.73 MB).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Unger: Japan considerations and memories II , 1929
  2. ↑ a b c Lepach: From the life of Germans in Japan: Louis Böhmer and Alfred Unger - two gardeners of the Meiji era (1868–1912) , 2011
  3. ↑ Andreas Dahms: Märkische beer tracks . In: The paper . Volume 17, issue 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ The history of Sapporo Breweries on the website of Sapporo Holdings Ltd., accessed on November 12, 2016 (English).
  5. ↑ Unger: Japan-Considerations and Memories , 1929
  6. ↑ a b Unger: Japan observations and memories V , 1930
  7. ↑ Unger: Japan Considerations and Memories VIII , 1930
personal data
SURNAME Böhmer, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES お 雇 い 外国人 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American horticultural scientist and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Luneburg
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1896
Place of death Blankenburg (Harz)