cultivated apple to Britain. The original cultivated apple is thought to have come from Kazakhstan where fruit trees similar to the modern apple grow wild in the forests on the Russian/Chinese borders. The hunter-gatherer people of the region might have discovered this fruit about 8000 BC, and eventually when they settled they planted some trees.
There are several references to apples in ancient times. Archaeological evidence from Jericho and Anatolia at about 6500BC found apple remains. There is no way of knowing if they had been cultivated, found or imported, but they were there.
From Basra, the ancient city of Ur, apple remains have been found buried with high status people about 2500 BC. The apples were cut into rings and threaded.
By 2000 BC there is clear evidence of cultivation, as it is written in the code of the law of the Hittites that there will be penalties to pay for damaging apple trees, vines, etc.
There is a Greek myth, similar to the story of Adam and Eve, where Hercules has to steal a golden apple from the garden guarded by a golden snake that did not sleep.
By the time of the Persian Empire, there was a good knowledge of apple cultivation. They knew that a temperate climate was needed, as a tropical climate does not have a chilling season to initiate flowering and fruiting the following year. They also knew that apples are not self-fertile. Pollinators are necessary hence producing pips of a multiplicity of varieties. To get true tree variety, vegetative propagation is needed. Unfortunately, apple trees are neither good for taking cuttings nor will they root. About the year 3000 BC it was discovered that apples could be propagated by grafting.
The Persians had planted gardens of apple trees to produce both fruit and shade. When Alexander the Great overran the Persian countries, the Greeks learned about these gardens which became known as Paradise. In turn, the Romans overcame the Greeks and inherited a considerable knowledge of apple cultivation. It was the Romans who brought the apple to Britain, with 20 named varieties. It is thought that the variety known today as DESIO was one of them.
After the Romans left Britain, apple cultivation declined, and the crabs again took over until the Normans arrived. They also brought cooking apples and cider apples.
We were then shown many interesting samples of fruits of different shapes and sizes, starting with quince. It was well known of old as apple in the Fertile Crescent. Its roots were subsequently used for grafting apples. Quince has been used in all manner of dishes unknown to us. For instance, the Portuguese call it marmela and make a marmalade from it.
We were not told the name of the next fruit from Asia Minor that was enjoyed by the Greeks and Romans. Monks were rather partial to it, and preserved it in their gardens when it fell out of favour. Evidently the name of the fruit and its associations were naughty according to the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare.
You can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medlar.
The first wild pears were peculiar little things that took many thousands of years to refine.
It is said that King John died of a surfeit of apricots and ale, but later, for several centuries, people would not eat much fruit except as a medicine because it was considered as 'cold, wet humour'. By 1600 sugar became more widely available and cooked fruit with sugar became the antidote for the cold, wet humour.
English apples were exported to North America by early settlers who planted the pips and established orchards on the eastern seaboard. As the USA is a melting pot of many cultures, apples from many sources arrived on the continent. They say that Johnny Apple Seed then distributed pips that he collected from cider factories across America. As all the propagation was done from pips, there is no knowing what mixture of varieties resulted. By chance, many turned out to be useful, but many were not.
Today we are limited by the supermarkets. Only 10-15 varieties are grown on any scale.
Finally, we were all encouraged to visit Brogdale with its national collection of fruits either at Faversham or on-line at http://www.brogdale.org
Oct 16: HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND ELTHAM PALACE
Phew! thank goodness Gordon Brown failed to call an General Election or our trip to the Houses of Parliament would have been called off. I don't think I could have coped with two calamities in one year connect to our outings! However, all went smoothly and we were able to keep to our fairly tight timetable, although I was a bit anxious as we queued for around an hour to reach Westminster but a 'phone call to the Palace eased that concern.
We had a truly memorable and informative tour of the H of P followed by an hour with Charles Hendry, our MP, in Committee Room 11. After a whistle stop lunch break at Jubilee Cafe in Westminster Hall, the correct number of people boarded the coach for Eltham Palace. I don't speak lightly on the subject of our numbers (as those on the coach knew) because they fluctuated throughout the day!
Eltham Palace was a revelation to most people and we all made good use of the time we had there. No traffic problems at all coming back and we