496 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 31 



the new conditions the behavior of the variety may be completely 

 changed and may become definitely abnormal. The large-grained 

 Cuzco maize which grows in Peru as a rather small, productive 

 plant 6 or 7 feet high, may grow in the United States to a height of 

 16 feet, and usually fails to mature any seed. 



The general distribution of maize, as well as the local diversity 

 of varieties and uses, affords further indications of the antiquity of 

 agriculture in America, though several of the tropical root crops 

 also are widely distributed. The general custom of grinding the 

 maize kernels into paste after soaking in water may indicate a 

 previous use of root crops, and especially of cassava. Cassava and 

 other root crops have continued to be more important than maize 

 in some of the humid lowlands, while in the very high altitudes 

 in South America maize was supplemented by another series of root 

 crops, which included the potato. 



Small tribes of wandering, nonagricultural people survived in 

 several parts of the New World, subsisting on natural products, or 

 by hunting and fishing. Most of the natives of America planted 

 crops and lived permanently in the same districts, though usually 

 they did not farm continuously on the same land. A new clearing, 

 or milpa, was cut and burned each year, planted for one or two sea- 

 sons, and then left to grow up in " bush " for several years. In 

 many districts the milpa sj^stem had given place to permanent 

 cultivation, with a maize crop grown every year. The large-grained 

 Cuzco maize was the principal crop that was grown in the special- 

 ized terrace agriculture of Peru. Likewise in Mexico and in Guate- 

 mala all of the ancient specialized systems of agriculture were 

 applied to the production of maize. 



Our preponderant cultivation of maize in the United States is in 

 line with the traditions of ancient America. It is significant that in 

 the United States the word " corn," the traditional name for the 

 cereals of northern Europe, has been transferred in popular usage 

 to the maize j^lant. Vastly more corn is planted than wheat. In 

 1929 there was a total of 98,000,000 acres devoted to corn as against 

 61,000,000 to wheat, the corn having an average yield of 26 bushels 

 per acre and the wheat 13 bushels. The corn crop was more than 

 three times the wheat crop in volume, and the value $2,000,000,000, 

 more than double. Of cotton, 46,000,000 acres were planted, with a 

 value of a billion and a quarter. Of potatoes 3,000,000 acres were 

 grown, and of tobacco 2,000,000 acres. 



FOOD HABITS DIFFICULT TO CHANGE 



The growth of civilization that has occurred since the discovery of 

 America would not have been possible if our European forefathers 

 who settled in America had not found ready for their use a new series 



