When the Creator placed the first man in the Garden of Eden, he commanded him to nourish himself with the fruit it contained;[XI_1] and, from that epoch, the most ancient which the sacred work records, this kind of aliment is incessantly mentioned in the history of all nations, and at every period of their history.

The great Hebrew legislator seems to have considered fruit trees worthy of his especial care, for he forbad the Jews to cut them down, even on their enemies’ lands;[XI_2] and, in order to teach his people how to preserve them in all their vigour, he declares the fruits of the first three years impure, and consecrates to the Lord those of the fourth.[XI_3] He even goes further; he exempts from military service any one who has planted a vineyard, and all fruit trees conferred the same privilege until the first vintage.[XI_4]

Heathen nations also understood the importance of this branch of agriculture, and invented protective divinities—such as Pomona,[XI_5] Vertumnus,[XI_6] Priapus[XI_7]—whose sole care consisted in protecting orchards from the inclemency of the seasons, and dispelling insects and robbers, who would damage and plunder the crops.

Each kind had, moreover, a benevolent patron, who could not honestly refuse to be useful to it: thus the olive tree grew under the auspices of Minerva;[XI_8] the Muses cherished the palm tree;[XI_9] the pine and its cone were consecrated to the great Cybele;[XI_10] Bacchus complacently ripened the perfumed pulp of the fig[XI_11] and the rosy grape,[XI_12] which placed him on a level with the gods.

Among the Greeks, fruits appeared on table at the second course;[XI_13] and were eaten either cooked, raw, or in the form of preserves.

The Romans sometimes breakfasted on a small quantity of dried fruits;[XI_14] but the third course of their coena, or principal repast, offered an incredible profusion of the productions of their own orchards, and of those of three parts of the world.[XI_15]

Rich patricians, after they had exhausted all the immense resources of an incredible luxury—in their garments, habitations, and banquets—contrived to plant fruit trees on the summit of high towers, and on the house tops;[XI_16] thus suspending forests over their heads,[XI_17] as well as vast reservoirs, to keep alive the most exquisite fish.[XI_18]

At Rome they had an expensive, but, as they thought, effective process of preparing pears, apples, plums, figs, cherries, &c., &c., and which was as follows:—

The fruit was chosen with great care, and put, with the stalks attached, into honey, leaving to each one sufficient space to prevent their touching each other.[XI_19]

Our housewives of the 19th century may, perhaps, be curious to try this Roman experiment, if the quantity of honey which it requires does not frighten them.