John Graefer
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John Graefer or Johann Andreas Graeffer (1 January 1746 – 7 August 1802) was a German
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
nurseryman born in
Helmstedt Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage o ...
. Graeffer/Graefer is remembered by garden historians as having introduced a number of exotic plants to British gardens and to have worked for the king of Naples at the
palace of Caserta The Royal Palace of Caserta ( ; ) is a former royal residence in Caserta, Campania, north of Naples in southern Italy, constructed by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as their main residence as Kingdom of Naples, kings of Naples. The complex ...
. Trained by
Philip Miller Philip Miller Royal Society, FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botany, botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ...
at the
Chelsea Physic Garden The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre physic garden, the term here referring to the scie ...
, London, one of the most prominent
botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
s of Europe during the 18th century, Graeffer was subsequently gardener to the
Earl of Coventry Earl of Coventry is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation for the Villiers family was created in 1623 and took its name from the city of Coventry. It became extinct in 1687. A decade later, the second ...
at
Croome Court Croome Court is a mid-18th-century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Upton-upon-Severn in south Worcestershire, England. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown ...
, Worcestershire, which was being landscaped by
Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...
, and then to James Vere, of Kensington Gore, a founder of the
Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...
Graeffer struck out on his own as a partner with Archibald Thompson and the prominent nurseryman James Gordon in Gordon's long-established
Mile End Mile End is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is east of Charing Cross. Situated on the part of the London-to-Colchester road ...
nursery near the New Globe, Stepney, just beyond the East End of London. After Gordon's retirement and his death in 1780, the nursery at Mile End was inherited by Gordon's three sons. In August 1781, it was reported in ''L'ésprit des Journaux'', that ''MM Grœffer et Bessel'' had been issued a royal patent (dated 30 December 1780) for their preparation of cooked and preserved vegetables for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
and the use of those on sea voyages; it was the first recorded patent for preserving vegetables by drying them. For that purpose, it was reported, they had purchased 200 ''arpents'' of land near the "nouvelle globe", Mile End, for plantings, which appears to be Gordon's long-established plant nursery. The patent was issued for preserving "a vegetable of the
Brassica ''Brassica'' () is a genus of plants in the cabbage and mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, mustard plants, or simply brassicas. Crops from this genus are sometim ...
kind, generally known by the name of green and brown borecole, scotch or other kale with a salt solution and drying so it will keep for up to a year." Among Graeffer's introductions to British horticulture by far the most familiar was the variegated form of ''
Aucuba japonica ''Aucuba japonica'', commonly called spotted laurel, Japanese laurel, Japanese aucuba or gold dust plant (U.S.), is a shrub () native to rich forest soils of moist valleys, thickets, by streams and near shaded moist rocks in China, Korea, and Jap ...
'', the loved and loathed "Spotted Laurel" of gardens, which he introduced to British horticulture in 1783, at first as a plant for a heated greenhouse; it became widely cultivated as the "Gold Plant" by 19th-century gardeners. According to
John Claudius Loudon John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1782 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author, born in Cambuslang in 1782. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, co ...
he was also responsible for the introduction of ''Pyrus bollwylleriana'', the Bollwyller pear (later called
Shipova The shipova, scientific name × ''Pyraria irregularis'', synonyms including × ''Sorbopyrus irregularis'', is a hybrid of the European pear (''Pyrus communis'') and the common whitebeam (''Aria edulis''). It is a small to medium-sized tree growin ...
), and ''P. baccata'' (later called ''
Malus baccata ''Malus baccata'' is an Asian species of apple known by the common names Siberian crab apple, Siberian crab, Manchurian crab apple and Chinese crab apple. It is native to many parts of Asia, but is also grown elsewhere as an ornamental tree and f ...
''), the Siberian wild crab. Another of his introductions was ''Sideroxylon melanophloeos'' (later called ''
Rapanea melanophloeos ''Myrsine melanophloeos'', commonly known as Cape beech, Kaapse boekenhout (Afrikaans), isiCalabi (Zulu language, Zulu) or isiQwane sehlati (Xhosa language, Xhosa) is a dense evergreen tree that is native to the Afromontane, afromontane forests o ...
''), from the
Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...
, 1784. Not all his introductions took: in 1783 Graeffer introduced '' Fumaria nobilis'', a little alpine plant native to the Altai in Siberia, but it was subsequently lost to horticulture and reintroduced; he catalogued 80 species of plants suitable for rock gardens in 1789.
Graham Stuart Thomas Graham Stuart Thomas (3 April 1909 – 17 April 2003) was an English horticulturist, who is likely best known for his work with garden roses, his restoration and stewardship of over 100 National Trust gardens and for writing 19 books on garden ...
who knew the 1794 edition, found it "certainly the first 'quick reference' book on alpines that I have come across: he gives full particulars of descriptions and cultivation in a tabulated list. I think he was entitled to claim: 'The Author proposes in his use of his great variety of Herbaceous Plants a more constant and uniform and gay Attraction of Gardens, than has been hitherto pointed out, or adopted'". He also issued ''A Descriptive Catalogue of Upwards of Eleven Hundred Species and Varieties of Herbaceous Or Perennial Plants'' that same year. In the 1790s Graeffer obtained a recommendation from
Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James Co ...
, to be employed as head gardener to the king of Naples; at the royal
palace of Caserta The Royal Palace of Caserta ( ; ) is a former royal residence in Caserta, Campania, north of Naples in southern Italy, constructed by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as their main residence as Kingdom of Naples, kings of Naples. The complex ...
he introduced elements of the
English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...
to the extensive formal plan, the ''Giardino Inglese'' instigated by Sir William Hamilton, for King Ferdinand, who eventually took an interest in it, after Sir William had urged
Queen Maria Carolina Maria Carolina of Austria (Maria Carolina Louise Josepha Johanna Antonia; 13 August 1752 – 8 September 1814) was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV and III, who later became King of the Two Sicilies. As ''de facto'' ...
, as Hamilton reported to Banks from Caserta 22 April 1794, "that it would be a constant reproach to this country the having had by your goodness such a man as Graeffer for more than ten years without having had the least profit from his well known talents". A knowledgeable visitor, Sir James Edward Smith, founder of the
Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...
, has left an account of Graeffer's unsuccessful try at introducing the English taste:
Mr Graeffer, a very ingenious gardener recommended to the queen of Naples by sir Joseph Banks, was then employed in laying out a garden for her majesty in the English taste, to which purpose a portion of ground was allotted nor far from the palace; but unluckily in full view of a stupendous brick wall, built with Herculean labour for the purpose of keeping the above-mentioned cascade in its place. No plantation whatever could conceal this glaring wall from any part of the garden; nor could any climbing plants reach near to its top. The ground was besides occupied by miserable olives, with scarcely a picturesque tree to turn to account. Nevertheless Mr. Graeffer had succeeded, we thought, wonderfully. He had formed some very pleasant lawns, interspersed with clumps of myrtle and other shrubs, and the whole wore a very promising appearance. But unfortunately none of the Neapolitans could see any kind of beauty in his performances, and they complained of his introducing so vulgar a thing as myrtle! The queen was much disposed to be pleased, but she could not stem the tide of opinion; nor did the king approve of the expense: so the whole was given up some time after.
With more success, Graeffer, who must have had plenty of time on his hands, published a catalogue of the plants at Caserta, ''Synopsis plantarum regii viridarii Caserti'' (Naples 1803). In 1799, on Sir William Hamilton's suggestion, he became bailiff of
Admiral Horatio Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...
's estate at
Bronte, Sicily __NOTOC__ Bronte () is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Catania, in Sicily, southern Italy. The town is situated approximately west-northwest from Mount Etna, on the side of the valley of the Simeto river, and about west from Gia ...
, where Graeffer was expected to reorganize the agriculture along progressive English lines; his extravagant ideas, however, consumed the income Nelson expected from the estate: to Lady Hamilton Nelson wrote "I hope Graeffer is going on so at Bronté; I am sure I take nothing from that estate.". Raleigh Trevelyan, ''Princes under the Volcano'' (1973:477 note 17); quote in Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, ''Memoirs of the Life of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson'' (1849:166). Graeffer died in Bronte in 1802.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graeffer, John 1746 births 1802 deaths German horticulturists People from Brunswick-Lüneburg People from Helmstedt