The development of Hungarian technical literature of oenology

The influence of German technical literature

The influence of German technical literature was also remarkable. Peculiarly, the achievements of the English „new agriculture” had no direct effects on viticultural and oenological literature, as grape production in England, due to its geography and the little European ice age, was far less significant compared to the Middle Ages, and at the end of the 17th and in the 18th century grape production ceased to exist. On account of various geographical, ecological, geopolitical and historical factors, German technical literature was the most widely-known at that time, and the considerable development of German wine production from the middle of the 18th century, due to the French production of quality grape and wine, vastly contributed to it.

In 1802 the technical journal Notes on Farming Fields(Mezei Gazdaságot Tárgyazó Jegyzések) issued a German report, which recommended, referring to Darwin’s work, that cloudy and ropy wine should be filtered through fine sand or, what is even better, through diatomaceous earth. It proves well that the up-to-date knowledge of viticulture and oenology of the 18th and 19th century reached Hungary indirectly, through German-speaking countries. After the publication of the first German book of viticulture and oenology in 1582, and Hohberg’s highly influential Georgica Curiosa (1701), which gave an encyclopaedical account of the viticultural knowledge of the 18th century, grape production was mainly influenced by the works of M. Balthasar Sprenger, who was well-known in Hungary, too. His practical, nicely illustrated books were recommended to the readers of the journal Hungarian Herald (Magyar Hírmondó) in 1780 with the following words: "This German book is one of the latest and best works". Its influence can be seen in the references to it made by the vineyard owners of the Transdanubian wine regions in the first half of the 19th century regarding pure variety planting, introduction of grapes from Western European variety groups, and the modernization of other vineyard operations.

Leaning on Sprenger’s work and books, considering it as an example to be followed, in the 1830s Johann Philipps Bronner, who was also well-known in Hungary, wrote a book on the viticulture and oenology of Southern Germany, Rheinhessen, the Nahe Valley, the Mosel Valley and the Rhineland (Rheingau). German medical books are not in the field of our interest, even though, in their popular and influential translations that were published several times, they gave prescriptions of how to use wine. A good example of these medical books is Hufeland’s famous and circulated Macrobiotics. German technical literature of viticulture and oenology had great influence on our technical literature and also on our cultivation techniques even after the time discussed here.

Technical literature in Austria and Styria

Understandably, the most widely-known authors in Hungary were from Lower-Austria and Styria, who, besides doing their own research and making observations, were influenced by the viticultural literature of Southern Germany. They were trying to reach vine producers by spreading the principles of improved agriculture, and translating, reviewing and recommending foreign works. The most important Austrian author of the 18th century was Johann Wiegand, who wrote several books, which published many times in a number of languages. In 1766, he published the second edition of his work Der wohlerfahrene Landwirth... (The experienced farmer), supplementing its first edition (1764) with issues of grape production. He criticised the plantings in flat lands, spoke up for grafting, disapproved of using bell jars to protect plants from frost and ice, but approved of smoking against frost. His 1769 calendar, as a technical book in the style typical of the age, listed the pieces of work to be done month by month, just like any other popular book on economy at that time.

Two of his books, a handbook of producing flax and tobacco and his Handbuch für die österreichische Landjugend(Handbook for the youngsters in the Austrian countryside), were translated into Hungarian. The latter work, due to the economic policy and propaganda of the Royal Court in Vienna, was published five times in several languages and a shorter Hungarian version, to be used in education, came out in 1780 and 1792. Its Hungarian translator, Sámuel Szilágyi Jr. in his preface further emphasized the importance of changes. The hungarianization of the content was possibly among the translator’s tasks, as the technical terms were explained in Hungarian. The translation was proofread from professional point of view by István Weszprémi, an acknowledged scientist of the time, and the names of plants were translated by Antal Tzeizinger, a pharmacist. Sámuel Szilágyi, who was from Debrecen, called the attention of young Hungarian peasants to the fact that "the new economic ideas of our time are not modern and harmful inventions for peasants" but extensions of former knowledge with improved, up-to-date information. "Consequently, one should not be deterred from such works and have false views about them, as if they were to deceive the world. On the contrary, every peasant should be convinced that works of this kind are principally written and published to his use." Wiegand’ book criticised the standard of grape and wine production of most wine regions.
In 1780 Hungarian Herald (Magyar Hírmondó) recommended to his readers a book by Helbling, observing and describing the grape varieties of Lower Austria and their production assessment. Partly as a criticism, he mentioned that besides the 24 varieties known in the Vienna area, there were more than 40 varietes known and produced in the region of Sopron. Fridrich R. Heintl’s four-volume work on the agriculture of the Austrian empire can be considered as an outstanding achievement in the technical literature of agriculture of the Austrian empire. Its fourth volume, published in 1821 discussed the issues of viticulture and oenology. Almost a decade and a half later, in 1835, as the fifth volume of Heintl’s work, another book on viticulture and oenology was published, which is not known to the Hungarian Agricultural Bibliography. The author, Fridrich R. Heintl, in his preface clearly stated that it was the second part of the formerly published fourth volume on viticulture and oenology, which made his work consist of five volumes. The fourth volume described vineyard operations, while the fifth volume was about oenology, describing fermentation, the chemistry of wine, wine treatment and harvest without mentioning wine regions. So, even though he was a contemporary of Ferenc (Franz) Schams, he can not be regarded as a forerunner of Schams, who used a different method when writing about the wine regions, viticulture and oenology of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
From Austrian authors of viticulture and oenology those of Lower Austria and Styria were well-known to Hungarian vine producers. They mentioned these authors’ works and even referred to them. For instance, Elek Fényes made references to Johann Burger and Márton Boros referred to Babo, Heintl and a number of other French authors. Lőrinc Purman, a vine producer from Baán, Baranya county, who had been growing vine since 1819, referred to Fridrich Ludwig Babo’s work, published in 1844 in Frankfurt am Main, after having reviewed it. But he also knew " …Hechler and Trummer, the excellent writers from abroad…" . The vineyard owners who used more up-to-date techniques in their farming were well-informed about the viticultural literature of their time, especially in the field of grape varieties and wine treatment. In 1852 in the national journal Economic Papers (Gazdasági Lapok) a farmer from Somló raised the idea that the Babel-like confusion and mess around the names of grape varieties should be solved with the help of the books of Styrian authors Johann Metzger, Fridrich Ludwig Babo, Rubens, Fridrich Xaver Trummer and of the German Ferenc (Franz) Schams from Hungary and the variety sortiment of Stallner, a merchant from Szombathely, could also be useful.
All this proves the fact that in the first half of the 19th century, besides the technical knowledge of authors of technical literature of the time, a small circle of vine growers also were aware of the technical literature of the neighbouring Austria.