Just completed reading the new translation of Gurgen Mahari's Burning Orchards - a magnificent novel about the Armenian uprising of in.
Table of contents
We hauled the oil in tank-wagons of gallons' capacity, which were unloaded into the tank by gravity. At the bottom of the hill our tank-wagons were again loaded by gravity, as shown in the accompanying photograph. This taking advantage of natural conditions enabled us to handle the oil in a rapid and convenient manner, and was one of the things that enabled us to meet the severe conditions—that of keeping the pots filled almost continuously for several days.
After the tank-wagons were again loaded at the foot of the hill, the oil was distributed, in buckets holding about four gallons. From four to eight men filled the pots, as shown, taking several rows on each side of the tank-wagon as shown in the photograph.
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In lighting the pots we placed a few drops of gasolene [sic] upon the crude oil and either applied a torch or the burning end of the gasolene-[sic] can spout. We could not buy a satisfactory lighter. The can we used was one we designed for the purpose. It is absolutely non-explosive, and gave perfect results. From one to two drops to any quantity could be quickly placed upon the oil. In a high wind any arrangement that dropped a measured quantity would occasion the loss of valuable time, but by keeping the spout of the can on fire we saved the carrying of torches and gave a free hand to remove the lids from such of the pots as might be covered.
The cans held one quart each, and it seldom took more than two quarts to light the bulk of the thousand pots.
Burning Orchards Website
The high wind caused uneven heating. If we had the same experience to go through again we feel that we could save practically all the crop, for many con- ditions arose that were unexpected. It may be a long time before we have such hard conditions to meet again, and the results that we have secured have so encouraged us that we feel practically sure of saving a crop of apples every year from frost and even a freeze, provided the temperature does not go below 20 degrees.
We would not have our friends think that it is an easy matter, and something that can be whipped in shape in a short time. We would far rather go through an entire season of spraying and packing than the two weeks we experienced during the cold weather. The season, being a month earlier than usual, made us hurry our preparations for we were pretty sure we would need the protection.
Usually it is during the first part of May that the frosts kill the fruit, but this year it was nearer the first of April. We constructed a reinforced concrete reservoir holding about 16, gallons. The top reinforcement is shown in the cut.
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The arched steel sheets are bedded in the concrete. The walls are from four to six inches thick, and after being carefully pointed up and slushed with cement, were coated three times with hot asphaltum [sic]. Two four-inch pipes were placed in the top on the side next [to] the road. An eighteen-inch manhole was also placed in the top, so that the tank could be entered whenever necessary.
The floor of the tank was sloped to one corner, from which a. We intended to place the pots in the center of each four trees, hut we could not do this on account of getting between the rows with the spray-hose and the filling-tanks, so the pots were placed in the tree rows. We had a number of common ther- mometers placed at different parts of the orchard and outside of it.
Another year we intend to buy the best thermometer obtainable. We intended to have an electric alarm, but the cold weather had passed before the apparatus arrived. We have a number of colony chicken-houses. We had an alarm-clock set for every thirty minutes, and at each time the temperature was noted. During [the] first part of our smudging we did not try to light the pots until the thermometer commenced to drop below thirty degrees.
This was necessary because we could not locate our second car of oil, and were afraid to run out entirely. We lost some fruit by doing this, on the trees that were just opening in full bloom, because it is well known that a.
Gurgen Mahari's Burning Orchards
If a period of twenty-four to thirty-six hours has elapsed after the trees have come to full bloom the fertilization is probably completed, and a temperature of thirty or even twenty-eight degrees will do very little damage. Hereafter we intend to light up immediately [when] the thermometer shows any sign of getting below thirty-two degrees, recorded on an accurate thermometer.
Our trees that had been in full bloom several days have a good crop. Our first night was Saturday, April The temperature did not [rise] to thirty-three degrees outside the orchard until nearly noon the next day.
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All night the wind was blowing a regular gale, accompanied by sleet and snow. The wind was blowing so hard that it was difficult to pour the oil from the buckets into the pots. The oil has to be poured slowly into a burning pot or the fire will be put out. To make things doubly dif- ficult, the snow, melting in the pots, caused the oil to sputter and pop from the pots, wasting a great deal of it. The value of the pots that night was in the continuous stream of hot smoke blowing through the trees.
On the outside rows, the pots being under the trees, the wind coming toward the trees, the hot smoke did not go through them, but under them. It was not the effect of one pot or a dozen, but the aggregate effect of the thousand that produced the effect, and it was not necessary to examine a thermometer to determine what was happening.
Several nights of freezing weather followed, but they were not so severe, as the thermometer did not go below twenty-six degrees for a few nights, and it would warm up in the daytime. It was clear and still, and early in the evening the temperature dropped to twenty-eight degrees and later to twenty- five, and remained there until nearly 9 a.
One-half of the pots were lighted and the results noted. A dense black smoke formed over the orchard and surrounding fields. The temperature outside the orchard was twenty-five degrees; inside, thirty-six degrees. All night the leaves of the trees and what grass was in the orchard were wet with dew. Outside, everything was frozen stiff; and in the morning everything outside of the orchard was covered with a thick white frost which completely ruined any prospect of a fruit-crop that escaped the first freeze. The accompanying photograph of the burning pots was taken about 5: On a still night it takes much less oil, some of the pots burning several hours above their time of five hours.
Another year we expect to have more pots for this one block of trees. We have sufficient [pots] for ordinary con- ditions, but not for a freeze accompanied by a high wind. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem.
Return to Book Page. Preview — Burning Orchards by Gurgen Mahari. Burning Orchards by Gurgen Mahari. Gurgen Marhari's controversial novel, Burning Orchards, is set in the Ottoman city of Van, Eastern Anatolia, during the period leading up to the Armenian rebellion of and relates the epic story of the events which culminated in the catastrophe of the following years, wonderfully told by one of the great writers emerging from Soviet Armenia. Written with an abiding hum Gurgen Marhari's controversial novel, Burning Orchards, is set in the Ottoman city of Van, Eastern Anatolia, during the period leading up to the Armenian rebellion of and relates the epic story of the events which culminated in the catastrophe of the following years, wonderfully told by one of the great writers emerging from Soviet Armenia.
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Written with an abiding humanity, Mahari's characters are portrayed as complex and flawed - neither hero nor villain but keenly observed and evoked with a tender humour. Burning Orchards offers a version of events leading up to the siege of Van different from the received, politically charged accounts, even daring to reflect something of the loyalty many Ottoman Armenians had felt towards the former Empire.
First published in Armenian in after Mahari's long exile in Siberian, Burning Orchards Ayrvogh Aygestanner , was banned and publicly burned in the streets of Yerevan, even though the authorities in Moscow had eventually agreed to its publication. Much against the wishes of his wife he tried to rewrite the novel, removing passages criticising some Armenian political parties and leaders, but dying before it could be finalised.
The translation offered here is of the banned publication.
A brilliant work, epic in scope and masterful in its depiction of the cruel displacement of an ancient people from their historic homeland, Burning Orchards is a re-discovered classic. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Burning Orchards , please sign up. See 1 question about Burning Orchards…. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
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