26 



TUH AMEBIC AN MUSEUM JGUHNAL 



at oiu-L' .<ct ill iiiDlioii tlic social ma- 

 chinery to nu't't the new coiHlitions of 

 the future. In short, food shortage and 

 ultimate famine are not the cliaraeter- 

 istics of priniit i\(' life. l)iit (lie rcsiills 

 of natural laws govcniiiig llic history 

 of all social groups, liigli or low. 



It has h"cn suggcstcMl that we ri'ly 



more and more u|)oii cultivatcil f I 



plants. One cannot help applauding 

 the s])ii'it with which our ptM)[)lc rallied 

 to the lii'lds and gardens last s])ring to 

 do each his ndte in increasing our dwin- 

 dling sui'i)lus. I)ut there is also an- 

 other dii-e(-tion in which great gains 

 can he made. \\'hen CoUunhus found 

 America he discovered some new foods 

 destined to take tlie most important 

 places in the dietarv of the world. J 

 sa\- discovercf!, hut in reality, he ])la- 

 giai'ized or sim])ly appro]n'iate<l them, 

 for tlie (hscovt-ries had heen made hy 

 the ancestors of the American Indians 

 many centuries he fore Columbus was 

 Ixn-n. When we are reminded that more 

 than tliirty of the wcn-ld's im])ortant 

 food ])lants were already in cultivation 

 here in 14!)"?, we can form some realiza- 

 tion of our cultural oldigations to the 

 al)original American race. Of these 

 foods none take so high a place as In- 

 dian corn. In addition to being one of 

 the hest of the world's foods, it is the 

 one cultivated plant that seems most at 

 home in oui" country. It is the greatest 

 cvdtural triumj)li of the American race 

 and its origination mak<'s a strong- 

 claim to the higliest place in the world's 

 great deeds of culture. 



It is therefore most tinu'ly that there 

 are now a]ipearing some excellent books 

 njjon this important plant. Among 

 these books is one deserving especial 

 mention. Corn Aiinnnj flic hiihans of 

 tJic Up/icr Missouri, which I'cxiews the 

 I'arly writiiigs u])on the subject and 

 gives some account of the known va- 

 rieties of corn cultivated by the Indians 

 in North and South Dakota. In the 

 main, this book deals with one tribe. 

 the ^VFandan. 



'i'he Indian trihes of hoth South and 

 North .\iiierica culti\ated corn in about 

 every region where it covdd be raised 

 hv their metho(ls. in other words, corn 

 occupied ahoiit as large a place in the 

 culture (d' the Indians as it does in our 

 own. Long h(d'ore the day of Chris- 

 topher Colunil)US some Indian genius 

 hegan to tame the wild ancestor of 

 maize, a process which was carried ulti- 

 mately to such a pass that there is still 

 some doubt as to the identity of the 

 l)arent plant. Mrtually all the known 

 varieties of corn also had been devel- 

 oped liefore 1492. In fact, as corn is 

 cultivated today on our farms, the 

 nu'thods used are essentially the same 

 as those devised by the untutored In- 

 dians of prehistoric days. It behooves 

 us then, we who have so thoroughly and 

 grossly assimilated this great cultural 

 coi-n-complex, greatly to intensify and 

 improve upon it, that it may take its 

 ])lace ill the great super-complex of 

 culture traits that must be evolved 

 if oiii- ex])a!i(ling ])opulation is to sur- 

 vive. 



The ])rol)!em that confronts us is as 

 old as num : can we devise new methods 

 of feeding, clothing, and warming our- 

 selves that are workable on the scale 

 required l)y our ever increasing popu- 

 lation? It is plain that when Colum- 

 bus landed on these shores many parts 

 of the continent were supporting as 

 many Indians as could be maintained 

 in a seminomadic form of culture. In 

 other words, the aborigine had al)out 

 reached the limit of expansion until he 

 devised new ways of living, for the in- 

 exorahle law of supply and demand 

 checked his growth — if too many people 

 came into existence, there was a famine. 

 Although wc live under far different 

 conditions and on a widely divergent 

 ])lane from that of the Indian, we must 

 give some consideration to the teach- 

 ings of culture history: that is, there 

 will come a time when the present 

 methods of food production and distri- 

 bution will be inadequate. 



