PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURE. 7 



writers, to attribute the origin of all progress to theii 

 own nation. 



In America, agriculture is perhaps not quite so 

 ancient as in Asia and Egypt, if we are to judge from 

 the civilization of Mexico and Peru, which does not date 

 even from the first centuries of the Christian era. How- 

 ever, the widespread cultivation of certain plants, such 

 as maize, tobacco, and the sweet potato, argues a con- 

 siderable antiquity, perhaps two thousand years or there- 

 abouts. History is at fault in this matter, and we can 

 only hope to be enlightened by the discoveries of archaeo- 

 logy and geologj. 



