EFFORTS TO INCREASE FOOD RESOURCES 



in Egypt it passed as Syrian dourra. No word for this 

 grain has been found in the ancient European and Asiatic 

 languages. An ear of corn was found entombed with an 

 Egyptian mummy, but it is certain that this was the work 

 of a modern impostor, since the seeds grew when planted. 

 If maize had been grown in Egypt by the Egyptians, it 

 surely would have been pictured in their paintings and 

 sculptures, along with their other valuable plants. 



On the other hand, there is every evidence to show that 

 corn was the principal food of the natives of America and 

 had been since remote times. It was named in every tribal 

 language and had a prominent place in their religious 

 ceremonies. Seeds have been found in the remains of mound 

 builders and of cliff dwellers. The tombs of the Incas and 

 the temples of the Aztecs held the sacred grain, just as in 

 Egypt the sepulchers and sanctuaries were made the 

 depositories of wheat and barley. 



Other important plants to go from America are the 

 potato, sweet potato, tomato, and tobacco, nearly all 

 members of one plant family. Other vegetables of less 

 importance are grown, but none to the same extent. The 

 cinchona tree, from which quinine is made, comes from 

 South America; the eucalyptus tree is an important intro- 

 duction from Australia; and the rubber tree from Brazil 

 has had a profound influence on the development of the 

 Malay archipelago and some of the East India islands. 

 It is now being tried extensively in Liberia and the Philip- 

 pines, and promises to become one of the most important 

 trees grown. Plants in a long list are used for drugs, flavors, 

 perfumes, oils, fibers, rubbers, resins, gums, and waxes 

 in all parts of the world. Many of these are grown in regions 

 far removed from their place of origin. Systematic botanists, 

 exploring the earth on collecting trips, studying the 

 plants in herbaria, and growing them in botanic gardens, 

 have pointed out possibilities of usefulness in many of 



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