PREFACE IX 



cereals and to rice to make it worth the trouble of 

 planting it. They had a few bulbs and edible berries, 

 but they have not tried to cultivate them, having early 

 received the maize, which was worth far more." And 

 yet the American grapes have given rise to eight 

 hundred domestic varieties, the American plums to 

 more than two hundred, the raspberries to three 

 hundred, and various other native fruits have a 

 large cultivated progeny ! Even Darwin's prophecy 

 was largely fulfilled when he wrote it ("Variation of 

 Animals and Plants," i., 329): "Had North America 

 been civilized for as long a period, and as thickly 

 peopled, as Asia or Europe, it is probable that 

 the native vines, walnuts, mulberries, crabs and 

 plums would have given rise, after a long course 

 of cultivation, to a multitude of varieties, some 

 extremely different from their parent -stocks ; and 

 escaped seedlings would have caused in the New, 

 as in the Old World, much perplexity with respect 

 to their specific distinctness and parentage." 



The author must say, however, that his greatest 

 satisfaction in the book is in the record of the men 

 rather than in that of the fruits. Professed historical 

 inquiry often confines itself within arbitrary bounds, 

 not covering the whole sweep of human progress. 

 The names which are generally known are those of 

 persons who are distinguished in military operations, 

 politics, general science, or literature ; but persons 



