2150 NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



West North Centred States. Minnesota, page 2190; 

 Iowa, page 2193; Missouri, page 2196; North Dakota, 

 page 2199; South Dakota, page 2202; Nebraska, page 

 2205; Kansas, page 2207. 



South Atlantic States. Delaware, page 2210; Mary- 

 land, page 2212; Virginia, page 2215; West Virginia, 

 page 2218; North Carolina, page 2220; South Carolina, 

 page 2223; Georgia, page 2226; Florida, page 2229. 



East South Central States. Kentucky, page 2232; 

 Tennessee, page 2235; Alabama, page 2237; Missis- 

 sippi, page 2240. 



West South Central States. Arkansas, page 2243; 

 Louisiana, page 2246; Oklahoma, page 2249; Texas, 

 page 2251. 



Mountain States. Montana, page 2255; Idaho, 

 page 2257; Wyoming, page 2260; Colorado, page 2263; 

 New Mexico, page 2266; Arizona, page 2269; Utah, 

 page 2272; Nevada, page 2275. 



Pacific States. Washington, page 2278; Oregon, 

 page 2281 ; California, page 2284. 



Alaska, page 2287. 



The statistics concluding the articles, compiled by 

 Editor, are taken from the Thirteenth Census, 1910 

 (products of 1909). This is with the purpose not 

 only to give the statistics of each state but to afford 

 a basis of comparison between the states and to present 

 the facts for the Union. As a basis of comparison, the 

 main agricultural products are also given. The categories 

 of fruits are those used in the Census classifications. It 

 does not necessarily follow that "peaches and necta- 

 rines" means that there are nectarines growing in com- 

 mercial quantities in the given state, or that logan- 

 berries are grown when the category is "raspberries 

 and loganberries." In some cases in which these and 

 other incidental fruits are known not to be grown, the 

 names have been eliminated, but not always so. The 

 statements are classificatory. 



The Canal Zone (Fig. 2486). 



When Balboa followed the narrow jungle trails of 

 the Indians from one rambling settlement to another 

 across the Isthmus, he probably noted, if he took any 

 horticultural notes at all, that the economic flora was 

 deplorably meager. The palm-thatched "bohios," as 

 they called their one-room dwellings, were scattered 

 along the high banks of the rivers, just above flood- 

 mark; and the patches of root-crops and grains were 

 massed close up under the watchful eye and ear of the 

 planter, to avoid depredations by the plentiful game 

 animals, the deer, tapirs, agoutis, pacas, and their 

 kind. This sort of make-believe horticulture, however, 

 had been improving very slowly for thousands of years 

 when the first Spaniard appeared on the scene. 



If we hold, with O. F. Cook, that the first ideas of 

 agriculture originated in the old Caribbean region, if 

 we place the birth of the science back to the first pur- 

 poseful covering of an ot6 tuber in a half-cleared plat 

 somewhere about here some 50,000 years ago, then we 

 must needs offer some explanation for the undeniable 

 backwardness of tropical American horticulture at 

 the beginning of the sixteenth century. We may 

 rightly ignore all ethnological points in the case and 

 assert that in this region a little more than anywhere 

 else on the earth's surface did the food-plant growers 

 have a pitiably laborious and precarious struggle with 

 the primeval jungle. Indeed, it is doubtful whether 

 even the present inhabitants of the Chagres Valley 

 could eke out enough to live on from their little semi- 

 cultivated patches if they were deprived of the machete 

 and their few other "civilized inventions." 



In point of fact, however, the indigenes of this 

 region had a fairly large number of quasi-economics in 

 use, not to say in cultivation. They probably depended 

 upon the larger game animals to a great extent, with 

 fish, snakes, and iguanas also en menu; their main 



root-crop was "yuca," or cassava (Manihot dulcis var. 

 Aipi, M. utilissima), and to this day the "small farmer" 

 of the interior of the Isthmus sets great store on 

 "farina," the artificially dried, grated, peeled root. 

 Ot6, or Yautia (Xanthosoma spp.) was probably 

 second in importance as a vegetable food and undoubt- 

 edly existed then in many forms. Of yams there were 

 probably several species, all inferior to those now iri 

 evidence. The malanga, or taro (Colocasia), probably 

 arrived with the Spaniards. The sweet potato may have 

 been in evidence, but the present dialects of the 

 Panamanian Indians (according to Pittier) contain 

 no word for this root. And the "cacahuate," or peanut, 

 was a prominent prehistoric crop from Mexico to Peru. 



Among the fruits, the avocado, indigenous from Peru 

 to Mexico (but not in the West Indies), demonstrates 

 its nativeness by attaining a greater size here than 

 elsewhere 2 feet in diameter, with a height 'of 65 feet 

 or more, and fruits in proportion; the Mexican black- 

 skinned and the Guatemalan hard-skinned varieties 

 are unfortunately absent. The cashew (Anacardium 

 occidentale) is and probably was common everywhere 

 outside of the forests; the sister species, the espave 

 (A. rhinocarpus) is a conspicuous jungle giant. The 

 guavas, though unable to compete with the forest 

 species, are among the first to occupy cleared ground. 

 The annonas were probably common; three forest 

 species bear edible fruit. Two caimitos, or star-apples 

 (Chrysophyllum spp.) are half or wholly wild. The 

 calabash (Crescentia Cujete) was probably semi-culti- 

 vated for the sake of its fruit-rinds, used in lieu of 

 crockery. 



The pineapple probably made its first appearance to 

 the public somewhere in this region. As to the bananas 

 and plantains, it will probably never be known just 

 how or when they were introduced (from Africa or, 

 more probably, from the Orient) ; it seems certain, how- 

 ever, that there were a few varieties (out of the 300 or 

 more) under cultivation when Balboa came. The 

 anotto (Bixa Orellana) was doubtless used then, as 

 now, for decorating the body and, mixed with palm- 

 oil, to keep away mosquitos and the terrible "sand- 

 flies" and ticks. 



There were probably also peppers, ginger, papayas, 

 maize, and beans in those plantations of 4,000 years 

 ago; but unlike their distant neighbors, the Incas and 

 Aztecs, the Isthmian planters neglected to set it down 

 on stone records. 



The first two centuries of civilization brought but 

 little to this region in the way of new economic plants; 

 but as soon as travel across the Isthmus became a real 

 movement, and with pirates and brigands becoming 

 unpopular, Panama horticulture began to improve. 

 The Indian mango and the Polynesian bread-fruit 

 arrived and soon assumed a permanent predominance 

 over all other fruits, except the avocado and the musas. 

 The citrous fruits, various vegetables, rice, sugar-cane, 

 the akee (brought in with the slaves) and, of course, 

 the ubiquitous tropical ornamentals (Aralia, Hibiscus, 

 Acalypha, Codiaeum, Jasminum, and others) came in 

 due time. Many first-class economics, however, such 

 as sapodillas, star-apples, sweetsops, tamarinds, 

 mammee apples, and mammee sapotas, are still nearly 

 or quite absent within the Zone boundaries. The 

 French brought in a few good things. In 1906 to 1908, 

 H. F. Schultz, as horticulturist, began the propagation 

 of ornamentals and vegetables; through the auspices 

 of David Fairchild and the writer, a good collection of 

 economics was sent from the propagating-houses of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, 'at 

 Washington, D. C., to the Zone, with partial success. 

 About 1908-9, it was considered impracticable to raise 

 fresh vegetables and fruits for the Canal Commissary, 

 and until the native plantations began to be "bought 

 in" by the Land Office, January 1, 1913 (by Presiden- 

 tial Order of December 5, 1912), Zone horticulture 



