Michurinsk Science Town has sent hundreds of young fruit trees with horizontal "fan-shaped" roots to the monastery on the island of Valaam /Ladoga lake/. Such young plants are specially created for cultivation of industrial gardens on stony soils.
"To help Valaam monastery to revive its old dying garden our scientists have undertaken after request from the monastery prior and Karelian branch of the Academy of science in the end of the last century," - rector of Michurinsk Agrarian University, full member of Russian Agrarian Academy Anatoly Zavrazhnov told the SPB-TASS correspondent.
As he said, "Michurinists, as if especially for stony Valaam, have grown unique young plants of "fan-shaped" gardens which roots are fixed in the horizontal plane in thin layer of soil and give excellent crops".
Thickness of soil layer on Valaam makes only 10 sm, but since the 14th century monks tried to grow fruit there. For hundreds years they were bringing soil there by boats, fertilized plantations, and in 1824 monk Paisy has grown on the island 20 varieties of apple-trees, pears, plums and even water-melons, for which Valaam received the Honourable diploma of Parisian agricultural exhibition.
After 1945 monks were expelled from the island, and the garden was lost. Reviving it on rocks Michurinists have planted 807 apple-trees, 24 pears, 275 bushes of sea-buckthorn berries, young cherry trees, plums, 20 bushes of grapes, raspberry, red and black currant, gooseberry which was not growing on the island formerly.
The monastery principal gardener hieromonch Grigory, having visited Michurinsk, thanked scientists and students for revival of the garden and invited them to come again. Soon Michurinists will go to the island again to continue their noble work.
http://www.itar-tass.com
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