96 READINGS IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 



about 3000 B. c. The ancient Romans knew the grain, but it was not 

 introduced into cultivation in Europe until the sixteenth century. 



Corn appears to be indigenous to the region of Mexico. It has been in 

 cultivation since prehistoric times and is unknown in the wild state. Colum- 

 bus first saw corn in Cuba in 1492. He carried it to Spain, from where it 

 was rapidly distributed to most of the regions of the earth. When the 

 new world was discovered corn was in cultivation from Canada to Brazil 

 and from California to Chili. Some of the Icelandic sagas described as early 

 as 1002 A. D., what may well have been corn on the New England coast. 

 The early explorers following Columbus described the cultivation of corn 

 and lima beans, along with pumpkins, by the Indians in the New England 

 region. 



As tribes grew larger and, for economic reasons and purposes of pro- 

 tection, banded together into nations, the distribution of cultivated foods 

 within the nations was facilitated and commerce between them developed. 

 Now, perhaps, we are in the era of the caravan routes across Asia, when 

 trade dealt not only with hides and cloths, precious metals and jewels 

 but also with the less highly perishable of the foods from foreign lands. 

 Chang Chien, Chinese explorer, had established overland trade routes 

 between China and the Roman Empire by 115 B.C. As the routes of 

 travel, by land and by sea, reached farther and farther, the spices even- 

 tually made their appearance in the Alediterranean countries. They were 

 not quickly perishable, and they stimulated the palates of the Europeans 

 as nothing had done before. Almost from the day of their appearance, 

 exploration and commerce were guided in great measure by the desire of 

 the white man for spices and more spices. This desire was a potent factor 

 in Columbus' discovery of America, Magellan's circumnavigation of the 

 globe, and the early settlements in America under the British East India 

 Company. Love of spices was the cause for many a war. Attila, the Hun, 

 required three thousand pounds of pepper as a part of the ransom of 

 Rome. Many were the massacres countenanced in the Dutch East Indies 

 in an effort to retain a monopoly on spices. 



As the various peoples learned of the uses of their own foods, and their 

 value in commerce, they often made every effort to establish monopolies. 

 On many occasions attempts were made, sometimes successfully, to steal 

 the secrets. An outstanding example occurred, not in horticulture but in 

 sericulture. The Chinese had preserved the secret of silk manufacture for 

 many centuries. In 552 a. d. two monks who had lived for some time in 

 China first smuggled silk worms, in a hollow bamboo, to Constantinople, 

 where, under the protection of the Emperor Justinian, they inaugurated 

 the silk industry in Europe. 



Coffee was indigenous to Abyssinia, where the natives ate the raw grain 

 as a stimulant. In the fifteenth century the Arabs discovered the value 

 of the bean and started its cultivation in southern Arabia. From the port 



