In ancient times, Greece produced most excellent apples.  They were the favorite dessert of Phillip of Macedon and Alexander the Great, the latter causing them to be served at all meals.  Doubtless they came to be used to excess; for it is recorded of the Athenian lawgiver, Solon, that he made a decree prohibiting a bridegroom from partaking of more than one at his marriage banquet, a law which was zealously kept by the Greeks, and finally adopted by the Persians.  In Homer’s time the apple was regarded as one of the precious fruits.  It was extensively cultivated by the Romans, who gave to new varieties the names of many eminent citizens, and after the conquest of Gaul, introduced its culture into Southwestern Europe, whence it has come to be widely diffused throughout all parts of the temperate zone.

Apples were introduced into the United States by the early settlers, and the first trees were planted on an island in Boston Harbor, which still retains the name of Apple Island.  The wild crab tree is the parent of most of the cultivated varieties.

THE PEAR.—­The origin of the pear, like that of the apple, is shrouded in obscurity, though Egypt, Greece, and Palestine dispute for the honor of having given birth to the tree which bears this prince of fruits.  Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher of the fourth century, speaks of the pear in terms of highest praise; and Galen, the father of medical science, mentions the pear in his writings as possessing “qualities which benefit the stomach.”  The pear tree is one of the most hardy of all fruit trees, and has been known to live several hundred years.

THE QUINCE.—­This fruit appears to have been a native of Crete, from whence it was introduced into ancient Greece; and was largely cultivated by both Greeks and Romans.  In Persia, the fruit is edible in its raw state; but in this country it never ripens sufficiently to be palatable without being cooked.  The fruit is highly fragrant and exceedingly acid, and for these reasons it is largely employed to flavor other fruits.

THE PEACH.—­This fruit, as its botanical name, prinus Persica, indicates, is a native of Persia, and was brought from that country to Greece, from whence it passed into Italy.  It is frequently mentioned by ancient writers, and was regarded with much esteem by the people of Asia.  The Romans, however, had the singular notion that peaches gathered in Persia contained a deadly poison, but if once transplanted to another soil, this injurious effect was lost.  In composition, the peach is notable for the small quantity of saccharine matter it contains in comparison with other fruits.

THE PLUM.—­The plum is one of the earliest of known fruits.  Thebes, Memphis, and Damascus were noted for the great number of their plum trees in the early centuries.  Plum trees grow wild in Asia, America, and the South of Europe, and from these a large variety of domestic plum fruits have been cultivated.