The statutes of Charlemagne show us that almost all these fruits were
reared in his gardens, and that some of them were of several kinds or
varieties.
A considerable period, however, elapsed before the finest and more
luscious productions of the garden became as it were almost forced on
nature by artificial means. Thus in the sixteenth century we find
Rabelais, Charles Estienne, and La Framboisiere, physician to Henry IV.,
praising the Corbeil peach, which was only an inferior and almost wild
sort, and describing it as having "_dry_ and _solid_ flesh, not adhering
to the stone." The culture of this fruit, which was not larger than a
damask plum, had then, according to Champier, only just been introduced
into France. It must be remarked here that Jacques Coythier, physician to
Louis XI., in order to curry favour with his master, who was very fond of
new fruits, took as his crest an apricot-tree, from which he was jokingly
called Abri-Coythier.
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