Fruit to the Country - Development of Rural Areas via Administrative Horticultural Tansfer in the Kingdom of Hanover through the period from 1815 to 1866

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'Fruit to the Country'. Continuation of the ongoing project 'Amtshausgärten' (Gardens at the seats of local governors)The project examines the development of horti- and pomiculture in the Kingdom of Hanover through the period from 1815 to 1866. Supported by government administration, garden culture became an essential tool for the development of rural areas. Our investigation focuses on two aspects: (I) we analyze the implementation and efficiency of the reformed system since the 1830s, and (II) we identify and evaluate the actors, their networks and their influence on the horticultural transfer. The preceding and still ongoing project explores the sixty-year-lasting first period of the state funded system initiated in 1770. We study the central tree nursery in Herrenhausen, the countrywide systematic distribution of fruit trees and we look at the gardens around the seats of local governors, where a choice of the trees was planted for instruction of the local population and, presumably, for the governor's pleasure. We won essential new insights on the state of the art of horticulture in the Hanover-territory in the second half of the 18th Century. The new project will explore the next step (1815-1866) in the development, characterized by a further decentralization. Local tree nurseries were established, fruit trees were planted in public spaces for display and instruction, training in horticulture was offered. The new system relied much more on local initiative and authority, which is why we have to look at local actors, their span of responsibilities and their impact. A special role is played by garden clubs, like the Agricultural Society and the Horticultural Society, where state authority and civil society came into close contact. Up to now, publications on the development of pomiculture in Germany in the second half of the 19th Century are based on contemporary literature only. In our project, we will explore the rich archival materials preserved by public administration and thus open up new field of research. We will do this on three levels: First comes a state-wide quantitative analysis of activities and actors. Second comes an analysis of the district of Hildesheim, where we will try to reconstitute and compare the various instruments and professional networks on a regional scale. Third, we will do several qualitative case studies on a local level, to demonstrate how the system worked in a variety of circumstances.