Excerpt from The Companion for the Orchard: An Historical and Botanical Account of Fruits Known in Great Britain It is, says he, an employment the most worthy Of the application of man, the most ancient and the most suitable to his nature it is the common nurse Of all per sons in every age and condition Of life; it is the source of health, strength, plenty, riches, and of a thousand sober delights and honest pleasures; it is the mistress and school of sobriety, temperance, justice, religion, and, in short, of all virtues, both civil and military. To shew in what esteem those persons who encouraged or improved this art, were held by the ancients, Plutarch tells us that Ceres and Bacchus were mortals deified for having bestowed on mankind the knowledge Of raising fruits. At Rome, especially during the Commonwealth, the greatest generals, consuls, and dictators, with the same victorious hands that overthrew the enemies Of their state in war, turned up the earth in time of peace. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.