Tratado de la Huerta ó Método de cultivar toda clase de hortalizas

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Claudio Boutelou & Esteban Boutelou

author biography The brothers Claudio and Estaban Boutelou born in Aranjuez (Madrid, 1774 and 1776) were members of a lineage of gardeners and botanists. Following the family tradition, they studied in Paris and London and met the most important botanists of their age in Europe. Both had prominent positions in the Spanish scientific gardens. Esteban was less interested in garden design and preferred to focus on horticultural and agricultural issues. He studied the acclimatisation of exotic plants, but also the modern terminology about wine. He was the Aranjuez's chief gardener and the director of the Botanical Acclimatisation Garden in Sanlúcar (Cádiz). Claudio was the most known member of his family. He worked in the Botanical Garden of Madrid and taught Agriculture and Agricultural Botanic in Alicante and Sevilla. For this reason, the collection of the Boutelou brothers is now an important part of the herbarium of the University of Sevilla.

Editor: Madrid, Imprenta de Villalpando
Year of edition: 1801

This small encyclopaedic dictionary disseminates the method of cultivation implemented in the botanic gardens of Spain, especially the Aranjuez one, next to Madrid. It was the first part of an ambitious work with other volumes about flowers, fruits and recreation. In this volume, the Boutelou brothers described around 80 vegetables, in alphabetic order, from Acedera (Rumex acetosa, i.e. sorrel) to Zandia or Sandía (Cucúrbita citrullus. L., i.e. watermelon). They talked about artichokes, aubergines, pumpkins, beans, tomatoes or carrots, exploring their cultivations and their uses. 

The goal of the book is the scientific approach to the crops, without nonsense tricks and bad old practices. It wanted to apply the theory to reality, the geography and weather of Spain. The circulation of foreign treatises, mostly the French ones, was more important for scientists than farmers. This small agricultural encyclopaedia wanted to reach the peasants by explaining all the technical terms and using a language all the people could understand. For that, the vegetables are identified with the Spanish names and the botanical Linneo’s ones. It was the manifesto of the effort to combine scientific rigour and popular knowledge. 

F.D.

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