This section is from the book "Practical Cooking And Serving", by Janet McKenzie Hill. Also available from Amazon: Practical Cooking and Serving: A Complete Manual of How to Select, Prepare, and Serve Food [1919].
Fruit is most inviting when it is fresh-gathered, or picked with the heat of the sun upon it; exception is to be made in the case of melons, which are best when thoroughly chilled. Green leaves are needed in arranging fruit for the table or sideboard. In case the natural leaves of the fruit itself are not admissible, grape, currant or laurel leaves may be called into requisition. In this connection it might be noticed that time was when fruit was made a notable feature in table decoration; but at the present day - save at Thanksgiving or harvest spreads - fruits, except, perhaps, a basket of choice strawberries, or cherries with blossoms and leaves, seem no longer admissible for this purpose.
 
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