The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1893-08-31
ORIGIN OF GRAIN AND FRUITS
Many Kinds Have Been Known from
Immemorial Times.

being indigenous to the tropics and son e
to the temperature zone. AS they h.
came improved and differentiated they
were distributed in different countries
according to their utility and the
first gradual changes from a wild to a
cultivated State should have taken
place in general in warm countries
where the climate and the advanced
State of civilization conspired to effect
their amelioration. For instance the
grape is indigenous to America and had
existed here i'll wild State long ages
before the continent was discovered by
Columbus, but it was first put to use
in Egypt and Central Asia. to which
localities it's origin is sometimes attrib
uted, and whence it was in reality dis
tributed through the western world. A
similar remark may be made of rye,
one of the most valued cereals, which is
a native of the temperate zones, and
spread thence toward the South. 1t is
supposed to have been unknown in
India, Egypt and ancient Palestine, and
though it was more or less used by the
ancient Greeks and Romans, it was from
the North of Europe that they re-
ceived it,
Nearly all the grains now in use are of
unknown antiquity. Wheat was cntivat-
ed in all ATTITUDES as far back the past
as we have authentic knowledge. Bar
ley is thought to have originated in tine
Caucasus, but it was known and used
everywhere in the most ancient times.
Oats, like rye, was unknown in ancient
India and Egypt and among the He
brews. The Greeks and Romans receiv>
ed it from the north of Europe. Had
there been an early civilization on this
continent the wild oats found here and
there would probably have developed
into the useful cereal now considered
absolutely essential to the proper nour-
lshment of horses. This continent is
credited with having given Indian corn
to the Old World, but this useful cereal
was doubtless known in India and Chi
ma many hundred years before the dis
coyery OF America. Cotton was used
for making garments in India at a date
50 remote that it can not even be guess
ed at. The fact is mentioned by Aris-
totle. The first seeds were brought to
this country in 1921. In 666 the culture
is mentioned in the records of South Ca1>
DINA. In 1876 the culture was general
along the eastern coast of Maryland and
in 1776 we heard of it as far north as
Cape May. The nse of fax for making
l,fl, ,o
cotton, and perhaps more so, plants so
soft and flexible fiber having been with
out doubt among the first vegetable
productions of the ancient world and
their practical value discovered soon
after the invention of weaving.
The orange is thought by some to
have been first known, in Bnrmah,
whence it was disseminated throughout
the far East, in which connection it is
curious to note that the Greeks and Ro-
mans, to which the fruit was unknown
placed in the islands of the Hesperides,
where grew the golden apples, in the far
West. The introduction of the orange
into Spain is said to be due to the Moors,
who cultivated it in Andalusia. The
peach is accredited to Persia. The name
itself is said to be a corruption of the
Latin words for Persian" the word
nahum Qruit) being understood. The
origin of the word pear is uncertain, but
it is supposed to have been improved,
like the apple, from some wild shrub,
specimens of which are occasionally
found in the west of France. The plum
had a similar origin. Where our civil
Ition as old as that of Asia and Africa
the wild plum found in numerous local.
tiles on this continent would, after
thousands of years of culture, have de-
veloped into numberless varieties. The
apricot comes from Pera. The necta-
rine, which partakes of the nature of the
plum and peach, is of comparatively
recent origin, and came first without
donbt, from a union of the two.
The cherry, in its improved condition,
is of Persian descent, and is another
fir lit that might have been improved
from our wild varieties had our ciyiliza-
ton been contemporary with that which
preceded Egypt and Babylon in the
Valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates
Peaches. plums and cherries were all
known to the ancient Greeks and Ro-
Nuns.
The apple. the most useful and sat.
isfactory of all the fruits of the temper
ate zones, has been known from time
immemorial. 1t originated from some
OF the hardy species that are found some
f. 4, !, Ia
is fruit that likes the cold. and is found
in the greatest perfection in parts of New
England New York and Michigan.
where the winters are severe. As it ap-
proaehes the equator it loses its fine-
ness of taste, while still preserving its
beauty. The following tribute to Amer
ican apples is the Newton Pippin, glob-
ular juicy generous, highly aromatic
fruit. Other American varieties of note
are Williams Family, AstraRhan, GRAY
estein. and for winter use the Baldwin.
Spitzhurgen and Roxbury rasset." The
praise is perhaps extravegant, but it
must be borne i'll mind that English ap-
pies are generally very poor, and almost
any American apple seems good in Lon
don IN the winter by contrast. 1t is a
notable fact that, owing to care in the
culture, and in part to a preference for
the climate. all the fruits mentioned in
this list are found of better, quality
Europe and America than in the To-
calities where they are thought to have
originated. The oranges of India, Bur-
NAH and Cochin China are absolutely
tasteless and those Of Malaga scarcely
better. The best grown in Spain come
from the region of Valencia, where they
have been Introduced at a comparatively
recent date. So of the cherries, apr:co.s
and peaches, which have attained a per-
lection in Europe and America of which
the ancient Persians never dreamed. All
these fruits appear to increase in size
and improve in flavor in ATTITUDES where