158 1HE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



valuable productions of our gardens were first 

 brought into Europe from that fruitful region 

 between the Euphrates and the Indus, the 

 Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. It would 

 be both pleasing and instructive to pursue this 

 subject, but a hint or two must suffice. 



The conquests of the Eomans first made 

 them acquainted with the fruits of the east, 

 and then they spread them wherever they 

 directed their victorious arms. They derived 

 the fig from Syria, the orange and citron from 

 Media, the peach from Persia, the apricot 

 from Epirus, the pomegranate from Africa, 

 the plum, the cherry, and the pear, from 

 Armenia. A cherry tree, laden with fruit, 

 adorned the triumph of Lucullus, which he 

 had brought from Pontus, as a memorial of his 

 conquest of -that province a sight till then 

 unknown to the inhabitants of Italy. In less 

 than a century, the same species of cherry 

 was common in France, Germany, and Eng- 

 land, where the conquerors had introduced it. 

 Whatever are the evils of war and conquest 

 and they are very fearful they yet contributed, 

 in the early stages of society, to diffuse the 

 knowledge of many an article, and custom, and 

 art, which have tended powerfully to promote 

 the advance of civilization. The attachment 

 which the monks manifested to gardening, 

 during what are called the dark ages, may be 

 regarded as another cause of the diffusion of 

 foreign fruits throughout Europe. In our own 

 country, and, doubtless, in many other portions 



