Plant Breeding - Quality

Among fruits and vegetables, flavor, size, shape, sweetness, texture and acidity have long been desirable characters. Trees or vines producing superior fruits were prized above those that did not. This is known from the writings of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Plant remains in the gardens of Pompeii, covered by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, confirm that almond, lemon, peach, pear, grape, cherry, plum, fig, and olive were cultivated at that time. The particular varieties of onion and cabbage grown around Pompeii were highly regarded, according to the Roman author Columella (A.D. 50).