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Converging ethnobiology and ethnobiography: Cultivated plants, Heinz Brücher, and Nazi ideology
Abstract and Figures
Cette étude porte sur un botaniste allemand-argentin comptant parmi mes connaissances personnelles, soit le Dr Heinz Brücher (1915–1991). La carrière de ce botaniste montre que même si la science peut être objective, les scientifiques, eux, ne le sont point. Plusieurs aspects de sa biobibliographie révèlent un schéma de pensée dont les racines remontent au passé nazi. En 1943, H. Brücher vola les collections de plantes de Vavilov alors conservées en Ukraine et poursuit des recherches sur les plantes cultivées dans un centre SS en Autriche. Ces deux derniers points nous permettent de comprendre sa présence en Amérique du Sud après la seconde Guerre mondiale. Ses publications en ethnobotanique et en botanique économique—surtout celles portant sur la pomme de terre et les idées de Vavilov—sont analysées en tenant compte du contexte ethnobiographique du Dr Brücher. Cette rétrospective sur la vie d'un botaniste fait ressortir le jeu idéologique social et politique en science et soulève des questions quant à l'objectivité scientifique. Aussi, est-il pertinent d'ouvrir et d'élargir l'ethnobiologie afin d'y incorporer des avenues réflextives.
... to de tratados que pretenden ser científicos y proviniendo de un antiguo oficial de las SS, llevan a pensar, por lo menos, en una tara producto del eurocentrismo y racismo del autor (Gade 2006). No se trata aquí de analizar con detalle la trayectoria de Brücher (cuya etapa de posguerra Gade caracteriza como marcada por el oportunismo en aras del prestigio personal), sino de ubicar a qué modelo de misión responde un personaje de esta naturaleza. ...
... Autores como Gade (2006) caracterizan el interés de Brücher (quien siempre contó con una red de contactos en los mundos editoriales de Alemania y Francia, incluyendo algunos exmilitares) como el de un investigador guiado siempre por la búsqueda de aplicaciones más o menos inmediatas al mejoramiento de los cultivos. Este interés orientó el tipo de colectas y expediciones que desarrolló en Sudamérica en los años 1950-1980, lo que nos permitiría afirmar que el factor constante, incluso después de la guerra, es el de la naturaleza como "bien gratuito" y la noción de que la tarea central es la búsqueda de material útil antes que la comprensión del proceso histórico que dio origen a la agrobiodiversidad. ...
... 11 Por supuesto hay una apropiación del saber ancestral y de los rede Mesoamérica para elaborar goma de mascar. Así, en medio de lo que se pretende como un tratado sobre plantas útiles, Brücher critica el que "esta costumbre realmente repulsiva haya sido imitada por los civilizados de Norteamérica" (Brücher 1977b, citado en Gade, 2006). 11 Tampoco debe pensarse que no existió este interés por el pasado. ...
Los estudios sobre domesticación y diversificación de las plantas cultivadas cobró relevancia a partir del siglo XIX. En este marco el impulso a estas líneas de investigación ha estado ligado desde el principio a la relevancia de los recursos fitogenéticos frente a la fractura metabólica introducida por la agricultura industrial. La expedición botánica y la misión agronómica aparecen como dos momentos de un mismo movimiento dialéctico. Dependiendo de las caracetrísticas de la apropiación que se da en el primer momento, se construyen misiones con rasgos particulares. En este trabajo se exploran los rasgos de dos tradiciones divergentes y por momentos contrapuestas en el estudio de los recursos agrobiológicos. Sostengo que la expedición botánica como apropiación, paso previo al de la misión extensionista, responde a y es hecha posible por el propio proceso de acumulación de capital. En contraste, la tradición vaviloviana de la comprensión histórica del origen de la agrobiodiversidad como producto del metabolismo sociedad-naturaleza, abre un intersticio o grieta hacia otra forma posible, que permita trascender la dominación implícita en el extensionismo. Esto abre la posibilidad de revisitar, más adelante, las posibilidades liberadoras del conocimiento científico.
... Atrás da fachada do pesquisador imigrante e especialista em biologia de plantas se escondia a figura de um carreirista no regime nazista, que era membro do Partido Nacional Socialista, compartilhava ativa e ideologicamente as ideias racistas de Hitler e punha suas pesquisas a serviço do seu país, para expandir o Lebensraum do povo alemão(DEICHMANN, 1996). Gade descobriu que Brücher roubava coleções importantes de sementes, estabelecidas pelo botânico russo Nikolai Vavilov, e as transferia da Ucrânia e da Crimeia para a Áustria(GADE, 2006a).Em 2006, Gade realizou uma nova viagem para a Argentina, em busca de mais informações, já que havia rumores -não comprovados -de que Brücher tinha sido morto por traficantes de drogas, que temiam que ele estivesse desenvolvendo um fungo que pretendia usar como arma biológica para erradicar as plantações de coca na América do Sul(GADE, 2006a, p. 86). Durante a sua estadia de duas semanas na Argentina, Gade teve as oportunidades de entrevistar o filho do alemão e de preparar um manuscrito atualizado sobre o caso Brücher, que ele revisou várias vezes, mas que não chegou a terminar e publicar, antes da sua passagem ...
Espaço e representações: acordes de uma mesma canção reflete o olhar e o pensar de pesquisadores que compõem o Núcleo de Estudos em Espaço e Representações (NEER), em sua peculiaridade e em sua diversidade. O livro foi pensado de modo a mostrar as reflexões recentes de cada autor que, no conjunto, dá unidade a esta obra em torno da temática “espaço e representação”. Concebido a muitas mãos, a presente obra nos brinda com trabalhos autorais e atuais de importantes pesquisadores da atualidade, revelando a qualidade e a profundidade das abordagens sociais e culturais da Geografia contemporânea.
... Atrás da fachada do pesquisador imigrante e especialista em biologia de plantas se escondia a figura de um carreirista no regime nazista, que era membro do Partido Nacional Socialista, compartilhava ativa e ideologicamente as ideias racistas de Hitler e punha suas pesquisas a serviço do seu país, para expandir o Lebensraum do povo alemão(DEICHMANN, 1996). Gade descobriu que Brücher roubava coleções importantes de sementes, estabelecidas pelo botânico russo Nikolai Vavilov, e as transferia da Ucrânia e da Crimeia para a Áustria(GADE, 2006a).Em 2006, Gade realizou uma nova viagem para a Argentina, em busca de mais informações, já que havia rumores -não comprovados -de que Brücher tinha sido morto por traficantes de drogas, que temiam que ele estivesse desenvolvendo um fungo que pretendia usar como arma biológica para erradicar as plantações de coca na América do Sul(GADE, 2006a, p. 86). Durante a sua estadia de duas semanas na Argentina, Gade teve as oportunidades de entrevistar o filho do alemão e de preparar um manuscrito atualizado sobre o caso Brücher, que ele revisou várias vezes, mas que não chegou a terminar e publicar, antes da sua passagem ...
Espaço e representações: acordes de uma mesma canção reflete o olhar e o pensar de pesquisadores que compõem o Núcleo de Estudos em Espaço e Representações (NEER), em sua peculiaridade e em sua diversidade. O livro foi pensado de modo a mostrar as reflexões recentes de cada autor que, no conjunto, dá unidade a esta obra em torno da temática “espaço e representação”. Concebido a muitas mãos, a presente obra nos brinda com trabalhos autorais e atuais de importantes pesquisadores da atualidade, revelando a qualidade e a profundidade das abordagens sociais e culturais da Geografia contemporânea.
... Непосредственно сбором и вывозом коллекций семян и растений с территории б. СССР занимался расположенный в австрийском Ланнахе Учебно-исследовательский центр генетики растений Аненербе (позже Институт генетики растений Аненербе 5 , директор в 19435 , директор в -1945 [Gade, 2006]. Сотрудниками данного учреждения на оккупированных территориях параллельно проводился сбор и вывоз семян дикорастущих растений. ...
Дан обзор вклада в развитие прикладной ботаники и селекции первых заведующих Бюро по прикладной ботанике УК МЗиГИ (ныне ВНИИ растениеводства им. Н.И. Вавилова, Санкт-Петербург) А.Ф. Баталина, А.А. Фишера-фон-Вальдгейма, И.П. Бородина, Р.Э. Регеля и Н.И. Вавилова и рассматриваются вопросы становления данного учреждения, создания его мировой коллекции и изучения биоразнообразия возделываемых культур в Российской Империи, РСФСР и СССР, а также деятельность организатора Госсортсети В.В. Таланова и руководителя её северного отделения В.Е. Писарева.
Espaço e representações: acordes de uma mesma canção reflete o olhar e o pensar de pesquisadores que compõem o Núcleo de Estudos em Espaço e Representações (NEER), em sua peculiaridade e em sua diversidade. O livro foi pensado de modo a mostrar as reflexões recentes de cada autor que, no conjunto, dá unidade a esta obra em torno da temática “espaço e representação”. Concebido a muitas mãos, a presente obra nos brinda com trabalhos autorais e atuais de importantes pesquisadores da atualidade, revelando a qualidade e a profundidade das abordagens sociais e culturais da Geografia contemporânea.
Espaço e representações: acordes de uma mesma canção reflete o olhar e o pensar de pesquisadores que compõem o Núcleo de Estudos em Espaço e Representações (NEER), em sua peculiaridade e em sua diversidade. O livro foi pensado de modo a mostrar as reflexões recentes de cada autor que, no conjunto, dá unidade a esta obra em torno da temática “espaço e representação”. Concebido a muitas mãos, a presente obra nos brinda com trabalhos autorais e atuais de importantes pesquisadores da atualidade, revelando a qualidade e a profundidade das abordagens sociais e culturais da Geografia contemporânea.
The results of the scientific and manager activities of the well-known Russian agrobiologist Prof. Nikolay I. Vavilov (1878—1943) are viewed in the book. During his lifetime and nowadays he was known as Soviet Union agronomist, geneticist, plant geographer. The Department of Applied Botany and Plant Breeding (former Bureau of Applied Botany) was reorganized by him in 1924 into the All-Union Research Institute of Applied Botany and New Crops, and in 1930 into the All-Union Institute of Plant Industry (S-Petersburg) — the biggest agrobotanical centre of the world with its own system of geographical experiments and the net of experiment stations in different historical parts of our country. State testing system and V.I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL) was set by Nikolay I. Vavilov.
Nowadays a lot of parascientific opuses are published. They are aimed at the readership which is more interested in negative side of Soviet agricultural science including relations between Vavillov and Lysenco and all connected gossip. Such publications can't be avoided. Need in reliable information becomes more and more urgent. The problem is that they shouldn't be allowed to substitute real history. With the use of the newest archival materials the details of his biography, scientific and organizing activity are clarified in the book. Not to make the same mistakes again is important.
His expedition activity and collecting of plant accessions which are the important part of Vavilov Institute world collection are analyzed in details. His theoretical generalizations and analytical work are analyzed. The ways of development of the main theories and hypotheses by N.I. Vavilov are viewed using the results of the newest scientific achievements. An attempt to understand why though N.I. Vavilov was the citizen of the world his hypotheses are only Russian brand is done. Nevertheless in world he may be compared with such famous American plant explorers as David Fairchild, Frank N. Meyer, and Harry V. Harlan who roamed the globe in search of new varieties of plants.
One area of genetics particularly dominated by German-speaking geneticists (Brücher, Correns, Lehmann, Michaelis, Oehlkers, Renner, von Wettstein) during the interwar period was research in the field of cytoplasmic inheritance (Plasmon-Theory). The controversy between the botanists Lehmann (Tübingen) and Brücher (Jena, Tübingen) about the function of “supressor genes” in Epilobium cell division was central to debates about cytoplasmic inheritance. The failure of Brücher, Michaelis and Oehlkers to replicate Lehmann's Epilobium experiments ultimately forced Lehmann to admit his error.
The article deals with the role of genetics in the state-led agricultural modernization efforts that took place in different industrialized countries during the course of the 1920s and 1930s. A comparison between Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States shows substantial similarities in their attempts to increase the productivity of agriculture on different geographical scales. Following advances in scientific knowledge about the geography of cultivated plants, these countries sent out numerous expeditions to collect plant breeding material from all over the world. At the same time, states tightened their grip on farmers’ and breeders’ activities inside the country by establishing legal rules for the use of plant varieties and seed. But this was only one side of a larger “genetic modernization” project. In all three countries, concepts of agricultural modernization were substantially linked to social-darwinist thought which embraced programs of eugenics and “racial hygiene”. These links are outlined for each of the cases, highlighting the widely differing intermingling of scientific concepts and terminologies with political ideologies. It is then discussed what role geography and in particular geopolitical thinking of the time were to play in the development of “genetic modernization”, and more specifically, with regard to the nexus between agriculture and eugenics. While the discipline’s involvement in both fields remained comparably marginal in practical terms, clearly there were conceptual contributions toward the development of the broader field. Going back to Ratzel’s and Kjellén’s work, it is argued that geography had an important role in the establishment of a political field in which ideas of managing human reproduction were fused with concepts of economic development and environmental determinism.
This book defines the dimensions of crop diversity and questions surrounding it. Understanding the nature of crop diversity and its fate in the modern world is an international scientific enterprise that draws scientists from many different disciplines—archaeology, geography, botany, genetics, anthropology, and economics. Since the mid-nineteenth century, many investigators have dealt with this topic and have defined an array of scientific, industrial, and political issues that reach far beyond the original investigations of botanists and natural historians. Geneticists and social scientists study diversity in agriculture for different reasons—for instance, to understand gene flow or the effect of the industrial seed industry. This book explains how human ecology came to the study of crop diversity, and describes the ways it has been used to address larger issues about human and agricultural evolution. It examines various ways of defining and measuring crop diversity, and introduces the three crops and farming regions: potatoes in the Peruvian Andes, maize in Mexico, and wheat in Turkey. The book describes the ethnobiology of Andean potatoes as an example of how anthropological research can contribute to an overall understanding of the ecology and evolution of a crop in its center of origin, and also examines the nature of farmer selection, using material from research on wheat diversity in Turkey.
Biological diversity is as crucial in agriculture as it is in nature, and it is equally important to the economic health of both industrial and nonindustrial societies. This book offers a sweeping assessment of crop diversity and the potential for its preservation. Stephen B. Brush develops a framework for investigating biological diversity in agriculture that focuses on the knowledge and practice of farmers, and he shows how this human ecology perspective can be applied to three global issues that affect crop resources. Brush defines the dimensions of crop diversity and outlines the essential questions surrounding it. He describes the techniques used to maintain diversity in major crops of three cradles of agriculture in which he has worked: Potatoes in the Peruvian Andes, maize in Mexico, and wheat in Turkey. Finally, he explores the policy issues surrounding genetic erosion of crop varieties, conservation of crop diversity, and ownership of genetic resources.
The Andean region is recognized today as one of the most important centers of crop origin and diversity in the world (National Research Council, 1989). Many of our most important food crops worldwide, most notably potatoes, were domesticated in this system (National Research Council, 1989). A unique feature of the Andean agricultural system is a taxonomi-cally diverse group of Andean root and tuber crops (ARTC), coupled to the commonly found complement of grains and legumes, such as maize (Zea mays L.), chenopodium, beans, and lupines. The ARTC played a vital role in allowing sustained intensive cultivation and nourishment of a population that reached 10–12 million people at the height of the In-can Empire (1450–1535 A.D.) (King, 1987). About 17 species of root and tuber crops were domesticated in the Andes, making this the largest known geographical concentration of underground crops (Hernandez-Bermejo and Leon, 1992; Tapia, 1993). The ARTC evolved in extremely inhospi-table areas for agriculture, and Pre-Columbian people made extremely effi cient use of what by todayʼs agricultural standards would be considered marginal land (King, 1987). The steep slopes of the Andes are prone to constant erosion, extreme fl uctuations in rainfall and temperature, and contain relatively poor soils. Crops grown in this environment were selected for their ability to cope with long periods of drought, freezing temperatures, and high UV irradiation. The Andean farmers took advan-tage of natural plant adaptations to extreme environments to domesticate a unique cohort of crops, and combined their cultivation with the use of complex irrigation canals, crop rota-and natural pesticides. The great adaptability of the ARTC favors their potential cultivation outside their area of origin. For example, oca is currently grown in Australia and New Zea-land (National Research Council, 1989), while other species have recently been introduced to Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia.
Bitter orange (Citrus aurantium), sweet orange (C. sinensis) and an intermediate type became naturalized in eastern Paraguay soon after the introduction of citrus some four centuries ago. Dissemination of the abundant propagules to uncultivated sites is achieved via the gaudy and buoyant fruit by birds, mammals, water and man. Three kinds of factors explain the widespread presence of wild-growing orange. One is the hereditary predisposition of the species to volunteer and, at the same time, to survive in the forest under-story. Another group of factors is the favourable biophysical environment- a humid subtropical climate, stratified arboreal vegetation and a rolling surface-which proved receptive to feral citrus establishment. Human influences in seed dispersal, relieving competition, and grove abandonment favoured the presence of orange in the Paraguayan landscape. The trees have benefited from farming, lumbering and grazing practices and the intermittent use of the fruit, wood and leaves. Additional studies of cultigen behaviour outside of man's control are needed to clarify the general requisites and stages of the volunteering process.
A new forma specialis of Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum f. sp. erythroxyli) pathogenic to Erythroxylum coca and E. novogranatense is described. The pathogen was isolated from the vascular tissue of diseased plants from an Erythroxylum plantation in Hawaii. This pathogen causes vascular wilt symptoms and death in both E. coca and E. novogranatense plants as soon as 7 weeks after soil infestation. The pathogenicity of seven isolates from the affected field was determined in field and growth-chamber studies. Genetic variation was not detected among the seven Hawaiian isolates, using arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction. The seven isolates could be differentiated from a strain isolated from a diseased E. coca plant from South America. All Hawaiian isolates and the South American isolate belonged to a single vegetative compatibility group.
N. I. Vavilov first published his concept of centres of origin of cultivated plants in 1926. For over fifty years it profoundly influenced thinking about the origins and spread of agriculture by bitanists, geograhers, anthropologists and archaeologists. The genesis of the concept and its exposition by Vavilov is examined, and its influence on the ideas of such scholars as C. O. Sauer, I. H. Burkill, C. D. Darlington, A. I. Kuptsov, R. Porteres, J. R. Harlan and J. G. Hawkes is traced. It is concluded that Vavilov's concept, which for so long conditioned ideas about the origins of agriculature, has now outlived its usefulness in thet field sof study.
Madia sativa, a “tarweed” long used in the past for its oily seeds by the natives of both Pacific North America and southern South America
where it still grows wild, has potential as a future oil crop.
Madia sativa, una “melosa” largamente utilizada en el pasado por sus semillas oleaginosas por los Nativos del Pacífico de Norte América
y del Pacífico Sur de Sud América donde todavia crece silvestre, es potencialmente importante como un futuro cultivo oleaginoso.
For thousands of years, Indian tribes have gathered, selected, domesticated and spread useful plants over the whole American
continent while mostly practicing shifting forms of horti-agriculture. It has been argued that origin and domestication of
New World crops could be traced back to essentially two independent, narrowly circumscribed core regions, (i.e. Vavilov's
genecentres) one in the highlands of Mexico and the other in the Andes of Peru. Those alleged centers of origin and genetic
diversity have been synchronized with the main cradles of American agriculture. Based on long periods of research work in
South America, we disagree with this opinion which is maintained primarily by anthropologists, sociologists and ethnologists.
Except for marginal desert and mountain environments, there are no real biogeographical restrictions for plant domestication.
Apparent geographical barriers, like the Darien gap, did not represent insurmountable hindrances for the diffusion and migration
of useful species in the hands of indigenous peoples.
In the first stages of potato evolution in the northern Andes, diploid cultivated species of theSolanum stenotomum complex were selected, in all probability, from wild progenitors in theS. brevicaule complex. TetraploidSolanum tuberosum ssp.andigena arose by fusion of unreduced gametes of a parent in theS. stenotomum complex with those of an unidentified wild species having actinomorphic calyces. Unreduced male gametes of several diploid
species fertilized eggs of ssp. andigena leading to extensive introgression.Solanum tuberosum ssp.tuberosum probably originated from a cross between ssp.andigena as staminate parent and an unidentified wild species which contributed cytoplasmic sterility factors encoded in mitochondria
and/or plastids having a distinctive type of DNA. Derivatives of this hybridization, which may have occurred in northwestern
Argentina, evolved to ssp. tuberosum in southern Chile and southern Argentina. In the 1570’s ssp.andigena was imported to Europe and spread from there to become a major crop with worldwide distribution. In the 1840's it was essentially
eliminated by late blight,Phytophthora infestans.Solanum tuberosum ssp.tuberosum was introduced from Chile into North America and Europe in the late 1800's, and in turn achieved a worldwide distribution,
filling the vacated agricultural niche of ssp.andigena. The differences between ssp.andigena and ssp.tuberosum in South America are sufficient that the two could reasonably be considered to be separate species. Since the 1960’s the
two taxa have been hybridized often in breeding programs. Neotuberosum, a northern-adapted strain of ssp. andigena, has been
selected to mimic ssp.tuberosum. Substitution back-cross products have been produced that have the chromosomal genes of ssp.tuberosum combined with cytoplasmic factors of Andean species. These breeding activities are blurring the distinctions between the
two subspecies throughout much of the world, though they remain distinct in their native areas in South America.
En las primeras etapas de la evolutión de la papa cultivada en el norte de los Andes, las especies diploides del complejo
Solanum stenotomum se originaron, probablemente, de progenitores silvestres pertenecientes al complejoS. brevicaule. Solanum tuberosum ssp.andigena se originó por fusión de gametos no reducidos de un padre proveniente del complejoS. Stenotomum con otros gametos de especies silvestres no identificadas, las cuales tienen calices actinomorfos. La introgresión de muchas
especies diploides en tetraploide ssp.andigena ocurrió a traves de fertilización por el polen no reducido de especies diploides. El comienzo de la evolutión deSolanum tuberosum ssp.tuberosum surgió, probablemente del cruce entre ssp.andigena como pariente macho y otra especie silvestre no identificada la cual contribuyó con los ovulos y por lo tanto con los factores
cytoplasmáticos esteriles encodados en las mitocondrias o en los plastidios con distintos tipos de ADN. Los productos de esta
hibridación evolucionaron a ssp.tuberosum en el noroeste de Argentina hasta el sur de Argentina y Chile. Hacia los años 1570, la ssp.andigena fue introducida a Europa y de allí se expandió quedando plantada en todo el mundo. En los 1840 fue practicamente eliminada
excepto en America del Sur por el tizón tardio(Phytophthora infestans). Solanum tuberosum ssp.tuberosum fue introducida desde Chile hacia Norte America y Europa a finales del 1800 y desde entonces se distribuyó a traves del mundo,
llenando el vacío ecológico creado por la desaparición de ssp.andigena. Las diferencias entre ssp.andigena y ssp.tuberosum son tales que las dos pueden con mucha razon ser consideradas como dos especies separadas. Desde 1950 los dos taxa han sido
frecuentemente hibridizados enprogramas de fitomejoramiento. Neotuberosum, una cepa de ssp.andigena adaptada a las condiciones del norte, ha sido seleccionada y hoy algunas de ellas son muy semejante a ssp.tuberosum. Tambien en el norte se han producido plantas que tienen los genes cromosómicos de ssp. tuberosum combinados con factores
cytoplasmáticos de especies andinas. Estas actividades de fitomejoramiento han oscurecido en cierta forma las diferencias
entre las dos subespecies en muchas partes del mundo, sin embargo las dos permanecen bien distintas en sus areas nativas de
America del Sur.
Oil of petitgrain is the distilled product of the leaves of the bitter orange plant, Citrus aurantium L. Although the French word petitgrain means "little seed," it actually referred to the oil distilled from the unripe fruitlets, which began in France in the late seventeenth century. The name petitgrain was retained even after the leaves and twigs became the source of the essence. Several citrus oils are expressed or distilled from the fruit peel, but they cannot accurately be called petitgrain. About 70 percent of the world production of this essential oil, which is used in soap, cosmetics and flavorings, comes from Paraguay. The raw material for petitgrain comes from a plant well adapted to the Paraguayan environment in which it grows and is processed by a rudimentary technology using local supplies of fuel. The product has a high weight-value ratio that makes it possible to bear transport costs to distant markets from that isolated country. Distilled essence from Paraguay was the brainstorm of Benjamin Balansa (18251892), a peripatetic French botanist whose scientific activities carried him to Indochina as well as the Western Hemisphere (Chevalier, 1942; Astre, 1947). When Balansa arrived in Paraguay in 1875 to collect plants, he found much land east of the Paraguay River covered with woods of naturalized citrus trees. Balansa, recognizing the potential for essential oil manufacture even in this remote corner of South America, began distilling oil-bearing parts of the bitter orange tree in 1876. At first flowers were processed to make neroli oil, while leaves and twigs yielded oil of petitgrain. Encouraged by those results, Balansa constructed a still of his own design in Buenos Aires and brought it upriver to Paraguay in 1877. By 1885, emulators had established 30 petitgrain operations in the country (Bourgade, 1889). Labor problems and a negligible world demand for the more expensive oil of neroli focused commercial attention on distillation of the leaves rather than the flowers. Until the 1930's, essential oil production in Paraguay was dominated by several large producers, including a Balansa descendant. Gradually, however, petitgrain manufacture became largely a peasant activity, one characterized by many small operations using crude equipment. Bitter orange cultivation and/or petitgrain distillation today are in the hands of about 15,000 Paraguayan country people and only a few large producers (Fig. 1). Some individuals work as wage laborers for those who have plantings. Most peasants who do grow bitter orange lack their own distillation equipment and either rent it from their neighbors or sell their raw material to proprietors of stills who are also growers. The majority of farms on which bitter orange plants are cultivated cover less than five hectares, with a fourth of them between five and ten hectares. Though small, these farming units are diversified. Subsistence crops, particularly maize and manioc, share space and attention with commercial crops of peanuts, tobacco, cotton, castor bean and bitter orange. Uncertain prices for any one crop mean that few peasants are willing to risk too much specialization, so that petitgrain is but one of the diverse products that help to bring a modest cash flow into the household.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1969. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-252). Microfilm.
Ernst Haeckel Ein wegbereiter biologischen Staatsdenken
- H Brücher
Brücher, H. 1935. Ernst Haeckel. Ein wegbereiter biologischen Staatsdenken. Nationalsozialistiche Monatshefte. N.M. 6: 1088-1098.
Ernst Haeckels Bluts- und Geistes-Erbe: Eine kulturbiologische Monographie
- H Brücher
Brücher, H. 1936. Ernst Haeckels Bluts- und Geistes-Erbe: Eine kulturbiologische Monographie. J.F. Lehmanns Verlag. Munich.
Die Reziprok verschiedenen Art- und Rassenbastarde von Epibolium und ihre Ursachen. I. Die Nichtbeteiligung von Hemmungsgenen
- H Brücher
Brücher, H. 1938. Die Reziprok verschiedenen Art- und Rassenbastarde von Epibolium und ihre Ursachen. I. Die Nichtbeteiligung von Hemmungsgenen. Zeitschrift für induktive Abstammungs und Vererbungslehre 75: 298-340.