2 



ably about the latter half of the first century of the 

 Christian era, and whose writings are commended by 

 Pliny.* The 1 0th book of Columella's De re Rus- 

 tica" is in verse, and On the Culture of Gardens/' 

 in this, he speaks of the peach (v. 405,) as having 

 been sent by the Persians to other nations, for the 

 purpose of poisoning the inhabitants, but he speaks of 

 it as a mere report, observing that in his time the 

 fruit had not only lost the power of being hurtful, but 

 yielded ambrosial juices," though still retaining 

 the name of the Persian Apple." Pliny controverts 

 the statement relative to the poisonous quality of the 

 Persian peaches. Columella says, that the earliest 

 were produced in Gaul, but that those introduced 

 from Asia were slow in ripening. Palladius, who 

 wrote, probably, about thirty years later than Colu- 

 mella, gives more full directions for the cultivation of 



* This settles with tolerable certainty the time when Coln- 

 mella wrote, which has been hitherto considered a matter of 

 more uncertainty. Pliny died a.d. 113, aged 52 years, and 

 it is fair to presume, that he composed his great work when 

 about 40 years old, which would be in a.d. 101. The peach, he 

 says, had then been introduced about thirty years, which marks 

 its introduction to Rome in a.d. 70. Now, as Columella speaks 

 of its Roman cultivation, he must have wrote after this year ; and 

 as his writings are mentioned by Pliny, he must have written 

 before the composition of the latter's Natural History. Colu- 

 mella, therefore, lived between the years 70 and 100 of the 

 Christian era. 



