The Carniolan Society for Agriculture and Useful Arts 1767–87: Promoting Practical and Theoretical Knowledge Based on Cameralist and Physiocratic Ideas

Abstract

The Carniolan Society for Agriculture and Useful Arts, often somewhat loosely called the Carniolan Farming Society, worked between the years 1767 and 1787 in the Habsburg duchy of Carniola on the southern border of Holy Roman Empire, which now forms the central western part of Slovenia with its capital Ljubljana (Laibach), northeastern Italy with the city of Duino, and a part of Croatian Istria with the city of Pazin. The official name of the Society (referred to as Society or Carniolan Society in this article) was Kaiserlich Königliche Gesellschaft des Ackerbaues und nützlicher Künste im Herzogthume Krain. It published two important periodicals: the Sammlung nützlicher Unterrichte (Collection of useful instructions) and a weekly magazine titled Wöchentliches Kundschaftsblatt des Herzogthum Krain (Weekly news of the Duchy of Carniola). Both publications promoted intellectual and scientific developments of the time and reflected a progressive spirit of Enlightenment and rationalism, characteristic of the eighteenth century in Europe.