Cultivated Fruits. 63 



THE HISTORY OF SOME OF OUR CULTIVATED 



FRUITS. 



Mrs. C. a. WILLARD, DePere, Wisconsin. 



We become so familiar with many things by habitual use 

 that we are surprised if at sometime our attention is called to 

 the fact that these familiar and common articles have come 

 to us from remote localities and have in many instances a 

 very interesting history. 



Such is the fact respecting fruits that have become so 

 common with us, that we are apt to think that they are in- 

 digenous to our own country. 



While we have made and are making great advances in 

 agriculture and horticulture, bringing to the services of 

 these industries the knowledge and science of the present, 

 in a degree that has marked a progress in these depart- 

 ments, that is creditable to the intelligence and enterprise 

 of the horticulturists of the country. Still, when we con- 

 sider the fact, that so many of the fruits that we are growing 

 and that we are familiar with, have come to us from remote 

 and distant localities, it may be a question whether or 

 no, we have exhausted the possibility of extending the 

 varieties, and the profit that may be derived from their cul- 

 tivation. 



For instance, the apple is found growing wild all over 

 Europe except in the extreme north, in parts of Asiatic 

 Turkey, in the south of the Caucasus and the north of Persia, 

 and in the mountains. of northwestern India it occurs appar- 

 ently wild. Bat the particular region of the globe where they 

 appear to be most truly indigenous seems to be in the 

 country lying between the Trebirond and the north of 

 Persia. 



It was in the neighborhood of Trebirond that the botan- 

 ist Bomgean met with a small forest of wild apple trees. 

 The type found there bore sweet fruit, quite unlike our 

 native crab apple. 



