34 INDIAN CORN. 



ORIGIN. In regard to the origin of this plant, al- 

 though there has never been room for reasonable 

 doubt, there have been those who fancied there was 

 room for argument. America is clearly and beyond 

 question the native country of Indian corn. Yet, 

 from the commencement of its history, writers have 

 not been wanting to contest this point, and to claim 

 for it an Eastern origin. The weight of authority 

 and of argument so entirely preponderates in favor of 

 its American origin, that it is scarcely worth while, in 

 a work aiming to be useful rather than learned, to 

 waste the time of the reader with idle and unprofit- 

 able speculation 



If any further evidence were wanting on this point, 

 it may be found in the impossibility that a grain so 

 nutritious, prolific, and valuable, so admirably adapted 

 to the wants of man, could have existed in the Eastern 

 world before the discovery of America without coming 

 into general use, and making itself universally known. 

 Had this cereal existed there at that period, it would 

 have made its own record too clearly and positively to 

 leave any doubt on the subject. 



But on this, as on some other topics, there will al- 

 ways be found a class of minds ready to keep up an 

 argument, whether there is any rational ground for it 

 or not. It would seem to be time to dismiss the con- 

 troversy by accepting, as final, the generally received 

 conclusion, sanctioned by such names as Humboldt, 

 Schoolcrafb, and Prescott, that Indian corn was un- 

 known to the Eastern world previous to the discovery 

 of America. 



