ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 313 



land ; and from the tufas of southern France, the kioken- 

 moddings of Scandinavia, the mounds of North America, and 

 the ancient monuments and tombs of Mexico and Peru. His- 

 torical documents are also important for the date of certain 

 cultures in particular countries ; and here it is stated that 

 the principal cultures have come from three great regions, 

 namely: China, southeastern Asia and Egypt, and intertro- 

 pical America. De CandoUe also remarks that in the Old 

 World agriculture was developed along rivers, in the New, 

 upon plateaux, — a fact which he attributes to the primitive 

 situation of certain plants worth cultivating. But this is not 

 quite obvious. Linguistic learning may be turned to much 

 account ; as in tracing a plant toward its home by the name 

 which has gone forth with it in all its migrations. Like other 

 instruments this must be used with some knowledge and judg- 

 ment. Ble de Turquie (maize) did not come from, and 

 probably not by way of, Turkey, any more than did the 

 animal of that name. Jerusalem Artichoke has naug^ht to 

 do with Jerusalem, but came from North America, and is no 

 artichoke. Pomme d' Acajou, anglice Mahogany-apple, is 

 neither an apple nor a pomaceous plant, nor has it anything 

 to do with mahogany. New Zealand Flax came indeed from 

 New Zealand, but is not a flax. Among errors from the 

 careless transference of names from one plant to another, 

 that of Potato, which belongs to the Batatas or Sweet Potato, 

 is familiar. Of mistakes which have been made in the trans- 

 ference of a popular name from one language to another, 

 De Candolle mentions the Arbre de Judee of the French, 

 which in English has become Judas-tree. We may add that 

 of Bois fidele, of the French West Indians, which, taken up 

 by their English successors as Fiddle-wood, has been perpet- 

 uated in the generic name Citharexylum. 



The several lines of evidence — botanical, archseological, 

 palaeontological, historical, and linguistic — may be used to 

 supplement or correct each other. How they may be brought 

 to bear, and how their combination may give satisfactory 

 results, is practically shown in Part II, — a study of the species 

 as regards their origin, their earliest culture, and the principal 



