INVEXTION AND SPREAD OF AGRICULTURE IN AMERICA 185 



parative food value over plants of 

 more propitious climes. At any rate, 

 seeds that grow with avidity on the 

 slightest encouragement form a large 

 part of the dietary of desert peoples. 

 The screening and washing of these 

 seeds at springs and beside streams 

 would naturally result in volunteer 

 crops and suggest artificial watering. 

 Whether the release of these wild plants 

 from a harsh life to one of continuous 

 ease under irrigation would result in 

 physical changes greatly increasing 

 their food value is a question that bota- 

 nists should answer. Certainly after 

 the plant has been reduced to cultiva- 

 tion, the adaptation to new environ- 

 ments must be tremendously hastened 

 by artificial selection. Only the plants 

 that grow to maturity give seeds for 

 the next planting, and these seeds are 

 carefully preserved and planted in the 

 most favorable situations. 



Agriculture received special empha- 

 sis in Mexico and Peru. Maize, beans, 

 and squashes are common to both 

 areas, but with considerable local vari- 

 ation. Sweet potatoes, the camote of 

 the Aztecs, are also cultivated in both 

 Mexico and Peru, but are probably of 

 humid lowland origin. In Mexico sev- 

 eral varieties of red peppers, often 

 called by the Aztec word chile, were 

 cultivated, as well as the tomato called 

 tomatJ in the same language. The lat- 

 ter was used mostly in softening the 

 rigors of chile sauce, and several varie- 

 ties are described in early books. Cacao 

 takes its mispronounced name from the 

 Aztec word cacauati, Avhich referred to 

 the dried nibs. When ground, this 

 fruit seed was called chocolatl and was 

 made into a delicious drink. Cacao 

 was grown in the lower and more hu- 

 mid parts of Mexico and Central 

 America, under the shade of another 

 tree, called the "mother of cacao." ;inil 



was an object of trade with the high- 

 land tribes. This plant does not seem 

 to have been known to Peru, although 

 the mountain tribes of western Vene- 

 zuela cultivated it and made a drink 

 called chorate from the seeds. Cacao 

 was grown also in many parts of the 

 lowlands of South America and in the 

 West Indies. 



In Peru the potato was especially 

 developed. It is doubtful if this plant 

 was known to the Mexicans, although 

 it was commonly grown throughout 

 the Andean region, and a wild form oc- 

 curs as far north as Colorado. Pea- 

 nuts also appear to l)e a Peruvian spe- 

 cialty.^ 



The weight of anthropological sci- 

 ence is strongly against over-sea trans- 

 mission as an easy explanation of enig- 

 mas in human culture, and it behooves 

 us not to assume lightly that any cul- 

 tivated plant was common to both the 

 Old World and the Xew before the 

 coming of Columbus, until the fact has 

 been established l^eyond doubt. Do- 

 mestic species of plants in cosmopoli- 

 tan use in 1.500 are rare, and possibly 

 the only example is the common gourd, 

 which appears to be one and the same 

 in the Old World, in the islands of the 

 Pacific, and in America. It is not a 

 food plant. l)ut was much cultivated 

 for household and ceremonial uses. An 

 important economic plant, that does 

 not appear as a single species but 

 rather as a world-encircling family of 

 closely related species, is cotton. Many 



1 There was also a sort of fruit called by the 

 Aztecs tlalcarnnntl (earth cacao), which is said to 

 have been roasted before eating. This fruit may 

 possibly be identified witli the peanut, since the 

 modern Mexican word for peanut is cacahuate. 

 In South America the Peruvian word mani is used. 

 Several wild species of peanuts are said to occur 

 in South America. Other Peruvian and Colom- 

 bian products are the roots of the ora. and the 

 arracacha. Great use was also made in Peru of 

 the seeds of quinoa. a plant of the pigweed family, 

 and in Mexico small seeds of similar type were 

 used. 



