Peter Friedrich Bouché

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Peter Friedrich Bouché , usually only briefly Peter Bouché (born February 15, 1785 in Berlin ; † April 3, 1856 in Berlin), was a Prussian " art and commercial gardener ", garden writer and entomologist .

life and work

Peter Friedrich Bouché was a scion of the Berlin gardening dynasty Bouché ; he was the youngest son of Jean Bouché .

Gardening activity

After his death, he successfully continued his father's business from 1812 together with his brother Peter Carl Bouché , who was already in charge of his own gardening business. His roses , auricles or primroses , carnations , erica and pomegranates were particularly well known . In 1834 he had well over 500 rose varieties in his range. He first cultivated various ornamental plants in Prussia, the best known of which is probably the rubber tree .

Before founding the University's Botanical Garden, Peter Bouché provided the professors and students there with material for their herbibles .

Garden books

His writing The treatment of plants in the room and in small gardens is a forerunner of the now widespread advice literature for house and garden plants.

In the years 1837/38 another work on floriculture appeared in three volumes , and in 1840 it was published again as a short version in one volume.

He even wrote a volume of garden poems, albeit for private use.

Activity in professional bodies

In the Association for the Promotion of Horticulture , which had been co-founded by his brother Peter Carl, he was active from 1822, was chairman of the committee for vegetables and was elected second deputy chairman in 1853. He was also a judicial expert and appraiser in horticultural issues, as well as director of the "German Hagel Insurance Company for Field Crops" since it was founded in 1847.

Enthusiastic activity

Furthermore, Peter Bouché collected, researched and classified numerous insects that occur as pests or beneficials in horticulture and published these findings in two books (1833 for the target group of gardeners and 1834 for entomologists) and various articles in specialist journals. In his opinion, the function of many animal species as garden protégés was still too little known, which is why he campaigns for the protection of frogs, toads, moles, birds, etc. due to their ecological importance. He writes: Man could leave the maintenance of balance to this police force if he had not disturbed the course of nature through his art [...] .

He described 50 new aphids - and as many species of scale insects . He was in contact with many contemporary experts (e.g. Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen , Christoph Friedrich Klug , Julius Theodor Ratzeburg ) and was also a member of the Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Bouché, Peter Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian "art and trade gardener", garden writer and entomologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1785
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1856
Place of death Berlin