148 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



in Japan and elsewhere cannot afford to buy rice and there- 

 fore live upon millet as their staple food. Millet seed is not 

 only used in making bread, but is cooked in various other 

 forms and in many mixtures of other food materials. 



QUINOA 



When the Spanish explorers first came to South America 

 they found the natives making common use of quinoa (Cheno- 

 podium quinoa) as a food. This is an annual plant native to 

 Peru, but occurring throughout the west coast of South Amer- 

 ica and northward into Central America. The plant is closely 

 related to the common weed lamb's quarters and yields a 

 heavy crop of edible seeds. Quinoa has also been cultivated in 

 Europe, California, and the Southern States, where it has 

 been grown for its leaves, which are used like spinach. 



Quinoa attains a height of 4 to 6 feet, and the leaves are 

 thin and distinctly three-lobed. The seeds are used especially 

 in Peru and Chile in soups, in making bread and cakes, and in 

 brewing a kind of beer. Quinoa ash has been mixed with the 

 leaves of cocain by the native laborers of South America in 

 order to give the leaves more flavor for chewing purposes. 

 There are at least three varieties of quinoa, the white, red, and 

 black-seeded. The white-seeded variety is most esteemed in 

 Lima and is the only one cultivated in Europe. The seeds 

 contain 38 per cent, of starch, 5 per cent, of sugar, 19 per cent. 

 of protein, and 5 per cent, of fat. The seed crop matures 

 within 5 or 6 months after planting. 



Quinoa has furnished food for millions of natives in South 

 America. It has quite commonly been known as petty rice 

 and by other names. The seeds are of about the size of a white 

 mustard seed. Flour made from them resembles oatmeal. The 

 red-seeded variety of quinoa contains a bitter principle which 

 has sometimes been used in medicine. The seed of quinoa is 

 also widely fed to poultry. This plant has not thrived well in 

 California, where it seems to be too subject to insect attacks. 



