The word "heirloom" is commonly applied to a wide range of produ the concepts behind it are often misunderstood or stretched, oy growers id by the public. Originally the word was a legal term referring to goods that ascended to an heir along with realproperty; by extension, it came to refer to mething of special value handed down from one generation to another. In a horticultural context, the Oxford English Dictionary defines "heuioom" as "a variety of plant or breed of animal which is distinct from, tl>e more common varieties associated with commercial agriculture, aad has been cultivated or reared using the same traditional methods for a long time, typically on a small scale and often within a particular region or family." The dictionary's firstcitation of the word being used in this way came from the New York Times in 1949.
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