Two days ago, there was an
article in Deccan Herald about how apples in Bangalore have made a comeback and how the
first harvest of apples are being harvested in Lalbagh.
Apple was one of the many temperate
fruits brought to Bangalore
mainly to sustain the demand for such items from European civil and military officials.
The demand for apples and
other English and European fruits and vegetables had their beginnings in the
establishment of the Cantonment in Bangalore
in 1804.
The British had decided to
pull our their troops from Srirangapatna as they were unable to face the
mosquitoes. They choose Bangalore as their spot
for setting up the biggest Cantonment n south India .
The then Governor-General, Wellesley had asked several botanists and naturalists, including Benjamin Heyne, whop was employed in the Madras Government to take over Lalbagh in 1800 and introduce crops, including fruits and vegetables palatable to the British.
Thus was born the first experiment inIndia to grow alien crops and this
started in 1800 and continued till 1807. Apple was one such fruit. Heyne also
introduced cocoa, durian, clove, nutmeg and mangosteen and the fist saplings of
these were planted in the Lalbagh.
By 1820, apples were popular in Lalbagh. In the same year, John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore, sent a few Apple saplings to Arthur Hope, the British Resident inBangalore
in 1820.
In 1880, the Superintendent of Lalbagh, John Cameron, introducedRome beauty Apple to
Lalbagh. He actually imported seventeen varieties of apples and grew them in
Lalbagh. Of them, he found the Roman Beauty the best to grow in Bangalore . He then
introduced the Apple to other parts of Bangalore
and its surroundings such as Whitefield.
The then Governor-General, Wellesley had asked several botanists and naturalists, including Benjamin Heyne, whop was employed in the Madras Government to take over Lalbagh in 1800 and introduce crops, including fruits and vegetables palatable to the British.
Thus was born the first experiment in
By 1820, apples were popular in Lalbagh. In the same year, John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore, sent a few Apple saplings to Arthur Hope, the British Resident in
In 1880, the Superintendent of Lalbagh, John Cameron, introduced
The seeds of Roman Beauty were
then distributed to farmers and owners of estates in Bangalore and Whitefield.. Slowly,
the cultivation of Apple became popular and it soon became a commercial
crop.
Cameron also introduced a variety of fruits and vegetables inBangalore , including chow chow, cabbage,
cauliflower, beetroot, radish, carrot, garden peas, turnips, rhubarb. Another
Superintendent of Lalbagh, Gustav Krumbiegal, introduced Italian olives,
Araucarias from Tasmania , and even caraway
from France .
Cameron also introduced a variety of fruits and vegetables in
Krumbeigel took a series of
steps to made the Apple a commercially viable and lucrative crop.
By the 1920s, Bangalore ’s Apple were
named Roman Beauty and they had a unique taste. These Apples were grown in more
than a thousand acres in and around Bangalore .
It was very popular among Bangaloreans and it was sold in the neighbouring
districts too.
Compared to their counterparts in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, the apples from Namma Bangalore were priced cheap and they had their own taste. Bangaloreans relished it and even the Maharaja of Mysore planted scores of apple trees in what is today Lower Palace orchard, Upper Palace Orchard and Vasanthnagar.
Several British bungalows and big houses of native Indians, as they were called, had trees that gave these Roman Beauties. People of all walks of life, including the British and large number of foreigners, relished them.
However, the change in the climate, growing urbanisation and depletion of the green cover sounded the death knell for the apples. A disease quickly spread among the apple trees and soon they became history.
However, the change in the climate, growing urbanisation and depletion of the green cover sounded the death knell for the apples. A disease quickly spread among the apple trees and soon they became history.