CHAPTER V 
FRUIT GROWING 
Meaning of the Term “Fruit.’”’— The botanist means by 
fruit the part of the plant that contains the seed, the grown 
pistil, and applies the term to acorns and pea pods, tomatoes, 
and pumpkins, as well as to apples and peaches. In ordinary 
language, however, the word is used in a more restricted 
sense, and applied only to the grown pistil when it is dis- 
tinctly juicy and either sweet or sour. It is in that sense 
that we employ the term in this chapter; and moreover, 
we are here interested solely in such fruits as we use for 
food. 
Origin of our Fruits.— The fruits of our gardens and 
orchards have been obtained in various ways. Some of 
them were domesticated but recently and modified but 
slightly. Others have been cultivated since the dawn of 
history and their resemblance to their wild ancestors can 
be seen only by experts. Our native plums, strawberries, 
raspberries, and gooseberries have an excellent flavor, and 
many of our cultivated varieties were derived from them 
only during the last two or three hundred years. On the 
other hand, most of our apples, pears, and currants, and cer- 
tain plums, were imported in early colonial times from Europe 
and Western Asia where they probably were among the first 
food plants brought under cultivation by primitive man. 
Peaches, apricots, and Japanese plums were brought from 
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