Michael Ambrosi sen.

Michael Ambrosi sen. (1862–1933) came from an old family of cultivators in the Târnava country. In 1875, on his father's death, he left school at thirteen and took over the family's vineyards, fields and pastures; from then on he learned the trade in the vineyard. When phylloxera reached the region in 1889 he submitted a memorandum to the council of the Saxon Agricultural Association and called for a viticultural commission; the commission was created and he was appointed its president. From 1892 he worked for ten years with Friedrich Caspari, running courses and practical sessions, and from 1901 he represented the Saxon growers on the council of the Association. He held 20 ha at Mediaș, with vines and American hybrid rootstocks, and 70 ha at Crăciunel, land that after nationalisation became the basis of the research station at Blaj. He wrote leaflets on grafting, among them «Un nou proces de altoire» (1910, revised in 1928).