Saturday, 2 February 2013

Shillong Fruit Garden


Fruit Garden

The Shillong Fruit Garden was established in 1902 in order to test the possibility of introducing various European fruit trees into the hill districts, which possessed a climate resembling that of the warmer regions of Europe[1].
The chief obstacle in these districts was the early arrival of the monsoon which rendered the atmosphere excessively humid and thus interfered with the ripening of the fruit.
 
Experiments had been made with apples, pears, plums, apricots, Spanish chestnuts, grape-vines, citrons, strawberries, Khasi oranges, gooseberries, raspberries, currants, rhubarb, asparagus and other plants. Considerable success had been attained in rearing the European univoltine silkworm, and it had been found that the seed produced in the garden was quite as good as imported seed. Large number of mulberries had been planted with a view to obtaining cuttings and plants for distribution.



[1]Bulletin of the Imperial Institute (Volume 8) - Commonwealth Institute (Great Britain), 1910. University of Toronto. http://www.archive.org/stream/bulletinofimperi08commuoft#page/195/mode/1up.

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