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The Imperiia Project: a spatial history of the Russian Empire

Gros Noir (cherry)

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1. Sary Sinap apple Botanical lithograph of a variety that likely originated in the southern coast of the Black Sea (at Sinop) and thrived in Crimea. With the Saint Germaine pear the "alpha and omega" of Crimean orchardry. The Sary Sinop is considered a first-class market fruit, appealing for eating and cooking. Candied fruit factories use it exclusively. Yield is high, which explains why it plays a crucial role in the Crimean economy despite fetching 1 ruble 50 kopeks per pood (half the price of many reinette varieties). This is the calling-card apple of Karasubazar.
2. Winter Master pear A tree identified in Belgium in the second half of the 18th century. In the right circumstances (warm and sheltered locations), this pear is delicious; but less than ideal conditions yield pears for cooking. Crimean gardeners complain that the Winter Master requires too much moisture and protection. The fruit fall easily in the wind - a problem in Crimea. The editor writes that whenever one sees gorgeous Winter Masters on the table you can be sure they are from France. Russian-grown Winter Masters are few in number. Yet a correspondent writes from St. Petersburg to point out that in general, Crimean pears increasingly compete with French pears and their progress is such that the latter "might soon be a memory."
3. Breda apricot
4. Golden Drogan cherry
5. Saint Germaine pear The Saint Germaine (Сен Жермен) originated near Paris and enjoys renown throughout Europe. The Sary Sinap and Saint Germaine "are the alpha and omega of Crimean orchardry" and there isn't a garden in Crimean where the Saint Germaine does not grow. It fetches anywhere from 2 rubles 50 kopeks to 4 rubles per pood. Moscow fruit sellers reported that the highest quality fruit came from Alushta and Kuru Uzen, Karasubazar and Bahcesaray.
6. Duchesse d'Angouleme pear
7. Williams pear
8. Forest Beauty pear
10. Bere Dil pear
11. Napoleon cherry
12. Golden Winter Pearmain apple An English pear identified in 1800. At an 1894 international exposition there were 33 Golden Winter Pearmain entries, including from the western provinces, the Baltics, Crimea, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Tersk and Kuban. The fruit ripens in October. This is a case of beauty over longevity though, thus the Golden Winter is best dried or made into cider. Atlas correspondents wrote in to add that the Golden Winter Pearmain stood up well to rain but could fall victim to moths and geese.
13. Bere Bosc pear
14. Renet Champagne apple
15. Louise apricot
16. Ardanpon pear The Ardanpon (Hardenpott) was identified in 1750. In the late 19th century it was well-established in Crimea and the most profitable (and tasty) of all winter pears. In Crimea it was known as the Ferdinand, and was often sent to the Moscow markets from the Kacha valley and from Alushta and Kuru Uzen. (St. Petersburg markets sold French pears.) This chromolithograph is based on a pear sent for the purposes of the Atlas in 1896 from Alushta. It weighed 422 grams.
17. Green Reine Claude plum
18. Kandil Sinap apple
19. Simirenko apple In Russia the apple comes from the gardens of the sugar merchant and gardener Platon Fyodorovich Simirenko, who brought it in from Belgium. It has received increased attention among cultivators since 1887 and can be found in the provinces of Kiev, Poltava, Kharkov, Kherson, Podolsk, Chernigov, and in Crimea. Despite its many charms, explain the editors, it has not taken the market by storm because it is largely unknown and because there is another, well-established, green apple in Crimea.
20. Orleans Renet apple The Reinette d'Orleans ripened in November (earlier in Crimea) and lasted several months after harvest. A first-class table apple - the most flavorful and aromatic of all renets - that fetched good prices. The Moscow markets relied on fruit from Bahcesaray, Karasubazar, and Simferopol, with the best fruit coming, as it so often did, from the Kacha River orchards. Kapustin describes it as "a dessert apple of highest quality that will never go out of fashion."
21. Bere Clairgeau pear
22. Autumn Mistress pear
23. Canadian Renet apple
24. Short-Stemmed Queen apple
26. White Rosemary apple
27. Triumf Zhoduan pear
29. Gros Noir (cherry)
30. English Renet apple
31. Curé pear
32. Golden Denissen cherry
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The Rogue Fruit Trees of Crimea
Five entries in the master list of Crimean trees do not appear in the garden registers of 1793. What is this "master list" you ask?

Karl Gablits composed the list and published it as part of his Physical Description of Tavrida Province in 1785. The list of fruit-bearing trees (he composed a separate list of decorative trees) contains twenty-one entries. Sixteen appear in the garden registers of 1793 and therefore in the Glorious Glossary of (Fruit) Trees.
So which trees went rogue? Can you pick them from the lineup?
Rogue Tree #1: The Cornelian Cherry (кизил; Cornus mascula)
Gablits claims it is absolutely everywhere: in every garden, in every forest, on every mountain.

Rogue Tree #2: The Apricot (абрикос; Prunus Armeniaca)
Gablits describes the apricot as likewise ubiquitous, especially around Staryi Krym and Sudak.

Rogue Tree #3: The Red Currant (красная смородина; Ribes rubrum)
These are found only at Bahcesaray, though they grow there in large numbers.

Rogue Tree #4: The Hackberry (каркас; Celtis orientalis)
Gablits tell us it thrives from Balaklava to Yalta and is happiest on stony southern ground. The berries have medicinal properties.

Rogue Tree #5: The Pomegranate (гранат; Punica granatus)
Gablits admits that this one is more particular, growing only in the coastal gardens of the south, though they grow wild in the forests as well. The pomegranate too is known for its medicinal properties. Any good apothecary would be pleased to get his hands on some.