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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



est-cover over large areas affects fa- 

 vorably the conditions of human life, 

 which under a canopy of leaves are 

 hard indeed. 



But while extremely high civiliza- 

 tion might result Avhen the material 

 wealth of the humid tropics is garnered 

 by a closely organized people, the gen- 

 eral run of more or less haphazard 

 agriculture in the tropics leads to no 

 such state of affairs. In the great 

 Amazon Valley, and in the flanking 

 valleys of the Orinoco and the Plata, 

 we find agriculture unaccompanied by 

 high social developments, although 

 weaving and pottery-making are every- 

 where practised. Maize, beans, and 

 squashes are known throughout this 

 area, but maize is displaced from the 

 position of first importance by manioc. 

 Tw^o species of this plant are used, one 

 having a poisonous juice, the other be- 

 ing harmless. Both plants, along with 

 many other species of the same family, 

 are said to grow wild in Brazil, and 

 there is little doubt that domestication 

 first took place in this area. A single 

 technical process of extracting the poi- 

 sonous juice of the favorite manioc is 

 found wherever the plant is cultivated, 

 and similar types of clay griddles are 

 used in making the cassava cakes. ^ 



The third type of agriculture was 

 adapted to temperate conditions. It is 

 most completely exemplified in the 



eastern half of the United States, but 

 seems also to have been developed, al- 

 though to a much less extent, in parts 

 of the Argentine and Uruguayan pam- 

 pas. Maize is again the staple, with 

 beans and squashes as associated crops. 

 Among the Mandan Indians of North 

 Dakota maize was modified to meet the 

 conditions of a very short summer and 

 to ripen within sixty or seventy days 

 after planting. Among the Iroquois 

 agriculture was also brought to a high 

 plane, especially when we consider that 

 all the plants under cultivation were 

 indigenous to the tropics. 



If we glance at the crop report of 

 the United States, we find that the an- 

 nual value for this country alone of 

 plants brought under cultivation by 

 the Indians amounts to three thousand 

 millions of dollars — and the debt of 

 the world is only partly acknowledged. 

 Maize is our principal farm crop, and 

 in its production we lead the world, but 

 in certain other products of the Amer- 

 ican Indians, such as beans and pota- 

 toes, the production of the United 

 States is but a very small part of the 

 world's production. If we remember 

 that in the four hundred years that the 

 white man has dominated the New 

 World he has not reduced to cultiva- 

 tion from wild stock a single important 

 staple, the wonder of the American In- 

 dian agriculture becomes still greater. 



1 If we should extend our study of agriculture 

 to semi-cultivated trees, the list of valuable prod- 

 ucts would be greatly increased. Mention may be 

 made of the favorite alligator pear, whose current 

 name is a gross mispronunciation of arjuacate, of 

 several members of the anona or custard-apple 

 family, including the soursop or guanabena, the 

 chirimoya or sweetsop, and the custard apple, of the 

 granadilla which is the fruit of the passion flower, 

 of the lucuma and its relative the marmalade plum, 

 of the star apple, of the sapote or nispero, of the 

 mamey apple, of the nance or Barbados cherry, of 



the guava, of the ciruela or jocote, and even with 

 these names the list is far from complete. 



Nor can we take time to more than mention some 

 of the other important economic plants cultivated 

 by the Indians. Of these the first in value is the 

 modern cotton of commerce. The cultivated cotton 

 of the American Indians has virtually displaced 

 the OldWorld types. Many other fiber plants were 

 also brought under cultivation such as henequen. 

 Tobacco was widely domesticated from several spe- 

 cies both in temperate and tropical America. Im- 

 portant medicines derived from the Indians are 

 cascara sagrada, cocaine, and quinine. 



