Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie

Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie (1626 to 1688) was a French lawyer turned gardener who became the director of the royal fruit and vegetable gardens under Louis XIV. After a trip to Italy awakened his interest in horticulture he abandoned the law, read the ancient writers on agriculture and practised in the gardens of several great estates. Between 1678 and 1683 he designed and built the Potager du roi at Versailles, a nine hectare walled kitchen garden that supplied the royal table and served as a site for horticultural experiment. He developed methods of off-season production, such as strawberries in March and lettuce in December, and improved the pruning and cultivation of fruit trees. His manual on fruit and vegetable gardens was published after his death in 1690.