Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Apples and pears in antiquity
Improved forms of apples and pears ( P. communis ) were spread through the
civilizations of the Fertile Crescent, extending from the hills of Persia and
south of the Caspian Sea to Turkey and through Palestine to Egypt. Apple
trees apparently reached Palestine in about
BC and feature in the Bible
(Authorized King James Version) in the Song of Solomon. From Palestine they
were taken to Egypt and apple plantations in the Nile Delta are mentioned in
the Third Papyrus of Anastasi in the reign of Rameses II (
-
BC). The
Harris Papyrus of the time of Rameses III (
baskets
of apples being delivered as offerings to the Temple of Ra in Heliopolis.
Both apples and pears were well known in the world of Ancient Greece.
Homer, in the Odyssey written between
-
BC) refers to
BC refers to a large
orchard with both apples and pears; and Theophrastus spoke of the difficulty
of propagating apples from cuttings, budding and grafting being the generally
accepted methods.
Apple culture was well developed in the Roman empire. Columella de-
scribed cleft- and rind-grafting and also a technique of propagation practically
identical with modern patch-budding. Pliny described the apple as having the
highest value among fruits. He noted that fruit cultivation was a very profitable
enterprise, provided that the orchards were near to a town where the fruits
could be sold, and that fruit cultivation in the villages near Rome was more
profitable than any other form of farming. The Roman Varro (
and
BC) de-
scribed apple storage and the construction of an apple store so as to keep it cool
and well ventilated. All the Roman writers included the names of a number of
apple cultivars. Pears seem to have been favoured more for cooking and the
Romans had many named cultivars, some already of considerable antiquity.
The earliest written record of cultivated Asian pear groves in Japan is in the
manuscript of the Emperor Jito in AD
-
(Kajiura,
).
Apples and pears in medieval and
pre-industrial times
Charlemagne, the Frankish king who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in
AD
, introduced a law which laid down that crown lands in every city of
the Empire should have a garden planted with herbs and fruits. The fruits
included apples and pears. Over the ensuing centuries, both in England and
throughout western Europe, the monasteries became major centres for apple
and pear production. In England these monasteries were, from
, under
the direction of Norman-French bishops and abbots and had the manage-
ment not only of adjoining properties but also of lands allocated to them by
the King. In Kent, in
, almost half of the entire county was owned by
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