6 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
and, above all, fig and date-palm; and men try to find the suitable remedies 
for this. This is the reason for the process called ‘ caprification’; gall- 
insects come out of the wild figs which are hanging there, eat the tops 
of the cultivated figs, and so make them swell.’ The growth of the pear 
on various soils and in diverse situations is compared; he makes mention 
of a ‘peculiar, red and hairy worm” which infested the pear of these old 
Greek orchards. In Pontus, it is stated, ‘‘ pears and apples are abundant 
in a great variety of forms and are excellent.” ‘‘ General diseases’ are 
enumerated as ‘‘ those of being worm-eaten, sun-scorched, and rot.” 
Certain affections due to season and situation are mentioned, as freezing, 
scorching, and injury from winds. 
This is but a brief epitome of what Theophrastus writes of the pomology 
of the Greeks, and only topics in which the pear is specifically mentioned 
are set down and not all of these. By inference, one who reads Theophrastus 
might apply much more to the pear. Yet enough has been said to prove 
the point that pear culture was as well established in Greece 300 years 
B. C. as in 1900 years A. D. One leaves Theophrastus, satisfied that 
pear-growers of his day had about the same problems that growers have 
nowadays and solved them by the same sort of reasoning intelligence. 
In crediting Theophrastus as the earliest writer on pomology, we may 
assume that there were earlier writers from whom he must have received 
much knowledge. Perhaps greater writers on botany and pomology 
preceded him, since he cites older authors on the same subjects whose 
books have been lost. His alone of the books of its kind have come down 
to us from ancient Greece. Theophrastus was the friend and pupil of 
Aristotle, another philosopher and prince of science, and both in turn 
were taught by Plato. Who shall say, then, from whence Theophrastus 
received his knowledge? Aristotle is said to have written two books on 
botany antedating the Enquiry into Plants of Theophrastus, neither of 
which has survived the passing centuries. May not these great minds 
have been indebted to authors whose books and names have perished? 
These speculations serve to remind us again that the beginnings of botany 
and pomology long antedate written records. 
There were Greeks who wrote on agriculture after Theophrastus, 
and before the Roman treatises on farm management, a few of which 
are to be mentioned in the next topic. Of books, as monuments of vanished 
minds, however, there are none to indicate the activities of Greek farmers 
who wrote, but there are citations to show that ancient Greek literature 
